Park held a meeting for students to prepare for college and to learn about financial aid Dec. 7. This meeting helped educate families more about earning scholarships to save money when it comes to choosing a college to attend. This meeting was hosted by 12th grade counselor Sara Lindsay and was directed towards juniors and seniors to prepare for the next level of education.
Senior Nate Schwietering said it’s easier to stay in state where there are more financial benefits for you.
“Out of state gets expensive so you want to stay in state where it’s cheaper,” Schwietering said.
Senior Daniel Morley attended the presentation and said his family learned more about earning scholarships by working at different places
“I didn’t know colleges give out scholarships for working at Taco Bell or Target, or even just being tall,” Morley said.
Lindsay said, students must prepare for the financial part of college.
“If you haven’t started to learn how to budget money, I would start now,” Lindsay said. “Get a nice budget template so you can start to understand the costs of things”
Schwietering said he is not ready for the mental and financial part of choosing and committing to go to a college.
“I need to mentally prepare more and start to get more scholarships,” Schwietering said.
Lindsay said the people who attended the meeting learned there are counselors at all schools who will talk to schools and find out about what scholarships they give.
“Students should lean on the college and career people in Student Services, reach out to your college and get in touch with their financial aid office,” said Lindsay.“Find out about scholarships at the institution.”
According to Morley, debt is a problem for many college graduates.
“Money is a pretty big factor because you want to leave college with as little debt as possible,” said Morley.
Schweterings said the college readiness meeting has increased his awareness about financial aid at the next level of education.
“The presentation was important to help families earn more money and stay financially safer to keep them out of debt,” Schwietering said. “(The meeting) helped me know what I need to do to succeed with the least amount of debt.”
Lindsay said students should not have to worry about money when choosing a college
“Students and parents (should be able to) go to schools that they want to go to and not have to worry about the bill,”Lindsay said.
Schwiertering said attending the college readiness meeting helped him gain knowledge on how to leave school without debt.
“College readiness has helped me understand the costs and benefits of applying for scholarships,” Schweitering said.
Kara Mueller • Dec 19, 2023 at 12:35 pm
Great article, the Financial Aid night however the event was created and organized by Kara Mueller the Career and College Coordinator. Sara Lindsay 12th grade counselor hosted the evening event.