College Beat for Seniors
January 2021
Dear Parents,
I want to remind you of a few steps that are imperative for college admission:
- Please be sure to complete the FAFSA online. Even if you think you may not receive any grants or financial aid for college, this must be filled out every year in order for your child to receive scholarships or work study on campus.
- All students must get a meningitis shot before they can sign up for their classes or housing! Even if they are attending Lamar and living at home, they still must have the shot. Please keep the receipt of the shot because you will need to present proof to the university.
- I have sent the Semester 1 transcripts to your child’s accepted universities. Please let me know if they need anything else!
Congratulations to our seniors who have already been accepted by a university! The colleges include Texas A&M College Station, Texas A&M Galveston, Lamar, Baylor University, Sam Houston State University, University of Mary Hardin Baylor, LSU, U of Dallas, ORU, Texas State U, Savannah College of Arts and Design (SCAD), SFA, U of H Clear Lake, Houston Baptist University, Washington Adventist University, and others!!! Our seniors have also been offered academic and athletic scholarships.
As various scholarship opportunities come in, I will email the information on to you. Also, please remember that once your child is accepted into a university, that university should let you know all their available scholarships. If they do not, “bug” and nag them until they do ☺
There is a new website (at least new to us) called modernstates.org. Mrs. Currie found it and she and I are continuing to research it, but so far it looks like a great, free tutorial for any student wanting to take a CLEP test for college credit. I will send more information about this next week.
Have a blessed week,
Rhonda Cregor
College Beat for Juniors
January 2021
Dear Parents,
Try not to get too emotional, but your Junior student has only 3 semesters of high school left!
Your Junior should be signed up to take either the SAT or ACT sometime this semester. If possible, they need to take one early on and then possibly take the test again around May. This way, when college applications begin in August, hopefully your child will have the scores needed to be admitted to the university of their choice. Beginning in July 2021, the SAT test will have some changes: no more Essay portion, and they are going to try to test online. To sign up for the SAT, go to www.collegeboard/SAT. To sign up for the ACT, go to www.actstudent.org.
There are 3 free sites on the web that students can use as practice: Khan Academy, Union Test Prep, and PrepFactory.
I also suggest that you and your student discuss at least 3 university options and that you plan a “road trip” sometime this summer to visit the possible universities! You will need to visit each university’s website and contact them to reserve an official visit day/time.
A couple of you have asked about filling out the FAFSA and about scholarships. The FAFSA should not be filled out until October 2021. I will guide you through that in the fall. If you fill it out too early, they get confused and think your student is going to college this fall instead of 2022. Also, most scholarships are filled out from November-February of your student’s senior year, also for the same reason of not getting them confused as to when they will begin. However, it is okay to begin looking! Fastweb is a good site to browse. Please know that most of the scholarship offers will come from the universities that your student is accepted to.
There is a new website called modernstates.org. Mrs. Currie found it and she and I are continuing to research it, but so far it looks like a great, free tutorial for any student wanting to take a CLEP test for college credit. I will send more information about this next week.
I am praying that they all finish strong!! Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
In Him,
Rhonda Cregor
College Beat for Seniors
October 2020
FAFSA Information
Below is a link to an FAFSA guide to help you navigate through the site. Please try to complete this for your senior before the end of October.
Even if you don’t think your senior will qualify for free grants, this application will need to be filled out each year in order for your student to receive any kind of scholarship or work-study program.
I have met with most of our seniors individually regarding the college application process, as well as future goals. You are raising fine, Godly students, and I dearly love them all!! I have encouraged them to have all their college apps completed and sent by the end of October. Please continue to let me know if you need me to send transcripts, letters of recommendation, etc. Universities, such as TAMU, now have a different portal just for students so what they are now requiring is quite different than last year!