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By Lawrence Bivens
 Evening
descends on suburban Asheville as Landon Carroll ponders what is surely a
pivotal period in his life. It is mid-July, and the 18-year-old spends his time
cutting grass and doing other odd jobs around the local golf club, working out,
playing basketball and golf and enjoying his last few weeks at home. A spring
graduate of T.C. Roberson High School, Carroll will soon be on his way to
Raleigh as a freshman at N.C. State University. State is his dad’s alma mater,
and the younger Carroll, also a Wolfpack fan, has never contemplated going
anywhere else. Still, he confesses to being “a little bit nervous” about
college.
Ah, youth! And few moments in it are as magical as the transition from high
school to college. But there’s nothing magic about getting accepted by the
right college. It’s largely a result of hard work, research and planning that
properly begins in the eighth and ninth grades. Getting accepted by your
first-choice college also requires making decent grades in the right subjects
throughout high school, preparing for the huge financial obligation and getting
ready socially and psychologically to leave home.
On all these fronts Carroll is one of the lucky ones. From an early age his
parents encouraged him to think carefully about college and what he needed to do
to be ready for it. They also began saving regularly. And the excellent guidance
counselors at Roberson High showed him how he could earn college-level credits
while still a senior, enabling Carroll to begin his freshman year at State with
15 hours of college coursework already under his belt.
“We talked to Landon about considering options closer to home,” says
Landon’s dad, Dale Carroll, who is president of AdvantageWest, the regional
economic development organization. “He said he’d go to school at N.C. State
or he wouldn’t go at all.”
For many teenagers loyalties aren’t always so clean cut. Take Heather King,
for example. The Garner High School grad is enrolling at East Carolina
University, which she visited for the first time last summer. “I looked at
going to N.C. State, but there is no nursing program there,” she explains. For
King, a first generation college-bound student, pursuing a career in nursing has
been her dream since early childhood. “It’s what I’ve always wanted to
do.”
Planning for college is a complex process, and the stakes are increasingly high.
A recent report by the U.S. Census Bureau found that, over their careers, a
person with a bachelor’s degree on average earns $1 million more than someone
with only a high school diploma. At the same time, it is taking longer for most
to obtain what used to be referred to as a “four-year” degree. At N.C.
State, for example, just one in four incoming freshmen will graduate four years
later, with many taking as long as six years to earn their degree.
“Students seem to have a disconnect between what they think college will be
like and what it actually is like,” explains Mike Wallace, coordinator of
student organization services at N.C. State.
He says that in surveys of arriving freshmen, 75 percent believe they
will complete their studies in four years.
College Begins in the Ninth Grade
It is reassuring to learn that, even in the rapidly changing world of higher
education, one long-held belief remains true: academic preparation during high
school is still key. “We encourage our kids who want to go to college to begin
taking the right courses by the ninth grade,” says Mary McDuffie,
superintendent of schools for Northampton County. That means talking advanced
placement (AP) courses in all subject areas throughout high school. Students who
wait until the tenth or eleventh grade to get serious about college need to
hustle. “They can attend summer school or take web classes in order to get
caught up if they find themselves out of sequence,” McDuffie advises.
College admissions officers echo that advice when they describe what they look
for in a strong applicant. “Nationwide, the best indicator of student success
is course selection in high school,” explains Craig Fulton, director of
admissions at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. “Those students
are clearly advantaged in the admissions process and better prepared once they
get here.” That means being willing to take honors or AP science and math
courses, he says, along with a few years of foreign language, even if doing so
means earning a relatively mediocre grade. “An occasional C in AP physics or
calculus won’t hurt you one bit.”
True, not all high schools are able to offer a menu of advanced courses. “In
that case, they should simply take the most challenging courses they can,”
Fulton suggests. “We expect applicants to exhaust their high school
curriculum.” For Heather King, that meant giving up chorus as one of her
electives and taking more serious classes like human anatomy and sports medicine
that will help her achieve her college goals. “I really regretted not being
able to take chorus, but I realized I needed to take more vigorous courses,”
says the soft-spoken teen.
Nor do admissions officers look with much favor on applicants who, after
completing graduation requirements, coast through their senior year. “Some
students think it may look good to concentrate on non-academic activities during
their final year,” says Tom Canepa, associate vice chancellor for enrollment
management at Western Carolina University. He says that’s not smart.
“We’re looking for students who’ve undergone a strong four-year curricula,
not one that is three or three and a half years.”
Taking a challenging high school course load is especially good advice for
students who plan to apply to highly selective private institutions. “We look
closely at the rigor of the applicant’s high school curriculum,” says Nancy
Cable, vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid at Davidson
College. In fact, Cable explains that her admissions personnel typically
“re-calculate” high school transcripts using a measure that emphasizes the
meatier courses while ignoring less challenging ones.
Grade point averages also remain a much looked-at measure of a student’s
readiness for college, Cable says. Davidson, where 3,386 applicants competed for
470 freshman class “seats” this year, like many colleges, looks for
indicators of strong writing skills, placing significant weight on applicants’
performance on the essay portion of the admissions package. “We need good
writers from day one,” she says. “That’s something our faculty demands.”
Not that every Davidson applicant needs to be the next Patricia Cornwell (in
fact, a Davidson graduate). “We do expect them to write clear, grammatically
correct prose.”
Students hoping to attend Davidson also should exhibit a level of
“maturity, integrity, character and passion” in their applications,
Cable says. The college looks for a broad cross-section of students with various
interests and talents. “We also need students who are into service.” She
says most of those qualities can be detected in the applicant’s response to
essay questions that typically address issues of ethics, honesty and community.
As the essay questions rise in importance in college admissions, performance on
standardized tests is declining. “SAT scores are not a reliable predictor of
students’ success at Davidson,” Cable says flatly. In fact, some of the
nation’s most elite schools are no longer accepting standardized test scores,
she says, a far cry from the days when students took and re-took SATs in hopes
of improving their scores. Instead of taking the SAT a second or third time,
Cable says students should use that time to sharpen skills in other areas.
Focus on a Handful of Schools
Once they’re on the college track academically, it’s time for teenagers to
make a short list of the colleges and universities they might want to attend.
But how are they supposed to pick a handful of appealing campuses from the
universe of higher education options that includes 16 public universities, 36
private institutions and 58 community colleges — in North Carolina alone? The
process begins by evaluating the student’s tastes and learning style. Experts
say teenagers who have a strong sense of the career they want to pursue and
those who have particular personal interests should focus on larger universities
where a broad array of curricular and social options are available. Big campuses
also are better for students who are comfortable taking classes in large
lectures halls. Teenagers who don’t really know what they want to study should
consider smaller campuses where a close interaction with faculty should help
them sort out their interests. While smaller campuses often offer fewer social
options, for many students that translates into fewer distractions from the
classroom.
Students should know which few colleges they plan to apply for by the end of
their junior year, according to Steven Brooks, executive director of the North
Carolina State Education Assistance Authority (SEAA), a Research Triangle Park
organization that offer advice and planning tools for higher education. In
deciding which schools make the list, “students should look first at what a
college can offer them,” Brooks says. Several decision support tools for
college-bound students are available from a new web site that SEAA helps
support, www.cfnc.org. Other sites he
recommends include Hobson’s (www.studyseries.com),
Peterson’s Guide (www.petersons.com)
and the College Board (www.collegeboard.com).
But for many students there’s no substitute for the high school guidance
counselor’s office, which remains the ideal place to start, according to
Western Carolina’s Canepa. “These are professionals who can offer a wealth
of resources to students and parents,” he says.
In helping his son Jake hone his college plans, Butch Gunnels did his best to
offer advice on the advantages and disadvantages of various options. But in the
end it was a keen interest in computers that led Jake, a spring graduate of
Raleigh’s Broughton High, to apply to N.C. State. “Because he’s currently
undecided about a major, he also liked N.C. State’s First Year College,”
says the elder Gunnels, who is president of the North Carolina Soft Drink
Association. The program has been hailed in the national media as an innovative
mechanism helping freshmen adjust to life on a campus with 29,000 students.
Once students settle on a short list of colleges they’re interest in, it’s
time to take a campus road trip. Canepa encourages students and parents to visit
Western Carolina several times before applying. “You wouldn’t buy a car
based on photographs you’ve seen on the web,” he says. While visiting
campuses, Canepa says, students should talk to faculty and kids on campus, look
at residence halls and take the time to get a feel for the campus culture.
“There’s a time commitment involved, but this is a large investment in the
future.” Campus visits also give students an opportunity to make an impression
on admissions office personnel, which may influence their final decision.
“It’s important that the college sees you and knows how interested you
are,” Davidson’s Cable says.
If a student has taken all the right courses, done all the right research and
visited several campuses, there’s a good chance he or she achieve the best
outcome — being accepted by their first-choice college. But what happens if
they’re turned down? “Many of the students we reject end up here later as
transfer students,” UNCC’s Fulton explains. But there are right and wrong
ways to go about that, he says. “If UNCC is a student’s top choice, but they
don’t get in, and they decide to enroll at their second choice, say it’s
Appalachian, for two years with a eye toward transferring into UNCC, I’d
predict that student will likely not do very well at Appalachian.” Instead,
they should consider enrolling at their local community college and then
applying for a transfer. Fulton says community colleges are the ideal place for
“late bloomers” who may not have planned well enough in high school, but
want to pursue a bachelor’s degree. Assuming they perform well at the
community college, they will be very credible transfer applicants. “The most
recent past behavior is the best predictor or student success,” Fulton says.
Don’t Be Deterred by Price
Even the best prepared students wince at the cost of attending most four-year
schools. But higher education experts insist that lofty tuition figures should
not be a deterrent to attending the college of one’s choice. Tuition alone at
Davidson College, for example, currently nears $25,000. “Parents should not
allow price to narrow their student’s aspirations,” says Davidson’s Cable.
She points out that pricier schools typically offer more extensive aid programs.
“It’s very possible that a student can wind up paying more to attend a less
expensive college,” she says.
Like most other things associated with college, starting early is the key to
affording tuition. Cable says parents preferably should begin saving during the
student’s seventh or eighth grade year and certainly no later than sophomore
year. “Parents should also consult a financial advisor to make sure they
minimize the tax consequences of their savings,” she says. In addition, there
are any number of government loan programs and private grants available to help
with college costs — if you know where to look. Bookstores such as Barnes
& Noble and Borders have shelves lined with publications detailing the
“how-to” of financing a college education. Later on, it’s helpful to get
to know the financial aid officers at the institutions where their son or
daughter is applying.
WCU’s Canepa sorts financial aid options into four categories: grants,
scholarships, loans and part-time employment. Competition for academic
scholarships is keen, he says, a consequence of both greater demand and
constrained scholarship funds that may be related to the sluggish economy.
“Still, a good student in North Carolina should be able to find a niche,” he
says.
However, the competition for grants and scholarships is so keen that UNCC’s
Fulton suggests that parents should not base their financial planning on the
assumption that their child will be eligible for needs-based aid. “If it turns
out they do qualify for assistance or a scholarship, that’s great,” he says.
SEAA’s Brooks says that new savings vehicles, such as “529” education
savings programs, should not be overlooked. “Parents, grandparents or any
interested person can invest in these accounts,” he says. Contributions may be
made up to a level of $11,000 per year without being subject to the federal gift
tax, and earnings on the money accrue tax-free, he says. Guidelines and details
about investment options can be found on the agency’s web site (www.cfnc.org).
While the Internet has become an invaluable tool in planning for the financial
side of education, it is no panacea. Davidson’s Cable cautions families to
avoid Internet scams that purport to sniff out obscure scholarships and grant
dollars — for a fee, of course. “Parents can be confident that financial aid
counselors are aware of everything that’s available,” she says.
Nor should the prospect of borrowing to pay for a college education be a
barrier. “It’s perfectly
reasonable to borrow from the future in order to invest in the future,”
according to Fulton at UNCC, where undergraduate tuition and fees for in-state
residents approach $3,000.
He believes some parents suffer from tuition sticker shock because they’ve
never stopped to consider what they pay into their children’s elementary and
secondary education. “Parents don’t see the direct costs of K-12, though
they’re paying for it.” Given the growing premium paid to college graduates
in the job market, he views the obsession over tuition levels an example of
false economy.
“A lot of times, parents don’t
consider the option of part-time employment,” WCU’s Canepa adds. Research at
Western Carolina shows that students who work 10 to 20 hours per week, on- or
off-campus, perform better academically and have greater persistence rates.
“Perhaps they appreciate their education more since their working for it,”
he says.
Even if a student has been accepted by the college of their choice and lined up
the money for tuition, hopefully by the middle of their senior year, that
doesn’t mean they can glide toward graduation. For many, the challenge is just
beginning. Now is the time to help them understand the increased level of
academic rigor they will face at a time when they will have the newfound freedom
that comes with living away from home for the first time. That’s a combination
that trips up many otherwise well-prepared students.
“Many arriving freshmen have never learned how to manage their time,” N.C.
State’s Wallace says. That can lead to frustration and stress, among other
problems. Wallace recommends students should attend a time management workshop
before coming to college. “A lot of students do that after the get here, but
we’d like to see them complete that before they arrive.”
Wallace, who works closely with new arrivals and their parents at N.C. State’s
two-day orientation, says there are other skill areas that students could
improve in order to save themselves from potential headaches later on. “If
they’ve got the opportunity, they should think about improving their reading
speed and comprehension and note-taking abilities and develop a good study
system.” Nor should students be embarrassed about asking for tutoring. “In
high school, seeking outside help likely meant you weren’t doing well in a
certain class,” he explains. “In college, successful students may be doing
well because they’ve sought tutoring.”
In addition to campus resources such as tutoring and writing centers, most
colleges offer training to students who may need to sharpen their computer
skills. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which requires
arriving freshmen to own a laptop computer, the menu of computer skills
development and help desk support are explained in depth at orientation.
“Most freshmen are familiar with the basics of word processing and
spreadsheets,” says Elaine Tola, a computing consultant who works with UNC’s
orientation program, known as CTOPs. “What they likely don’t know is how to
connect their computer to a campus network or issues like virus protection,
information security and copyright laws.”
Participating in student orientation is another predictor of student success.
“It’s critical for students to make a connection with the college,” says
UNCC’s Fulton. That typically means living or working on campus, joining a
club or two, and getting involved in a structured program or one kind or other.
“They need to invest something of themselves in their college experience,”
he advises, “and the sooner the better.”
That shouldn’t be a problem for Landon Carroll, who’s counting the days
before he departs the comfort of his family’s Asheville home for his new life
at N.C. State. “I’ve wanted to go there since I was about five.”
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