Is Your Child Serious About College?

Is your child serious about college? Many kids tell their parents they’re going to college, but are they really taking the steps to get there? And are they putting themselves in a position to earn scholarship money to pay for it?

Most first-generation college applicants don’t have money saved up to go to college. If the students do well academically, that really helps. There are colleges across the country that offer merit-based scholarships to students earning at least a 3.0 grade-point average and an SAT test score of 1,000 or higher. Many students think an athletic scholarship is their best shot at getting money for college. This is a misconception. Many more students get accepted to college and receive scholarships because of their grades than because of their accomplishments in sports.

As for the SAT, to score well on this test – which most four-year colleges require for admission – students need to take the PSAT (a practice test for the SAT) in their 9^th-grade year and should begin taking the SAT their 10^th-grade year. However, many first-generation students wait until their senior year to take the SAT due to a fear of being unprepared or because they don’t make it a priority.

Waiting till senior year is a big mistake. If the students get a low score, they may have no time left to take the SAT again and improve. Also, they may lose confidence and begin to think they’re not college ready.

When students take the SAT in their 10^th-grade year, they may get a low score. But chances are, as they develop more familiarity with the test, the students will improve their scores significantly in their junior and senior years.

One of our FGCB participants earned a 2.5 GPA his 10^th-grade year and got a 840 on his SAT. There are colleges that would accept him with that record. But the great thing is that he now has two more years to improve both his grades and his SAT, so that he can win an academic scholarship and have more college admission options.

It is important to note that the SAT does reflect the student’s academic profile, especially in math and reading. The score reflects the level of math the student has taken – I recommend that students take algebra 2/trigonometry or higher – and whether the student is an avid reader or writer. A website of the University System of Maryland, www.Way2GoMaryland.org, provides good overall information about the type of courses your child should take in high school.

Parents, you can help your children get serious about college. Encourage them to strive for a B average or better. Research with your children the deadlines to register for the SAT, and help them sign up starting in the spring of their 10^th-grade year. You can find the deadlines online at the College Board website, www.collegeboard.com.

Finally, give your child a reality check. Have your child write a letter to the admissions office of one or more colleges. Because of cost, include one or more state colleges when requesting the schools’ admissions requirements. Or have the child find the requirements on the colleges’ websites. This will reinforce your conversations about college and your child’s attitude about attending college.

Parents, it is important that you stay involved and informed on the college-bound process. Getting into college needs to be a partnership between you and your child. In my next message, I will provide information concerning financial aid.

Joseph Fisher

August 2009

Persevering over the Long Haul

Welcome to this new feature of our newly redesigned website.

Twenty years ago, I created First Generation College Bound based on my personal experience in my community and beyond. I grew up in public housing in Southeast D.C., and didn’t plan to go to college. Fortunately, important influences turned me around.

My dad and mom hadn’t graduated from high school, but they valued education. (My mother earned her high school diploma at the age of 52.) My mother also kept us actively involved in church, and in after-school and community programs that helped provide spiritual development and needed structure. Dad exemplified the value of providing for the family. My older siblings were role models as well. Brothers Johnathan and John, Jr. worked hard and succeeded in the military, and now one has a bachelor’s degree while the other has a Ph.D. in divinity. Sisters Joan and Judith were good students who impressed me by speaking French fluently beginning in junior high school. Even today I am amazed at their ability at that time. Outside the family, my high school track coach, Hubert Gates, was a tremendous influence, urging me to attend college.

Like me in my earlier years, there are many students who feel that they do not have potential to attend college due to the challenges they face at home, at school and in their community. I started FGCB to give these students a second chance – to offer them support and encouragement and make them aware that resources do exist to help them realize that they can continue their education beyond high school if they desire. The fire and passion of that vision continues in me to support their college-bound dream.

I started the program at Kimberly Gardens in Laurel, Maryland, where I made a long-term commitment to the community. Kimberly Gardens continues to be the nucleus of our program. It keeps me grounded in my original mission when I see low- and moderate-income students from this community graduate from high school and head off to college. At a time when many educational support programs last only four to six years, I’m gratified to have honored my commitment to Kimberly Gardens residents to stick with them over the long haul. This year’s college-bound senior from Kimberly Gardens, one of 100 FGCB students, will be attending McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland.

I’m also excited about the continual expansion of the FGCB program, which now entails many communities and three high schools. And I am grateful to our partners and supporters, who have enabled this growth with their time and money and have set the stage for even greater things in the future. And it would be difficult for me to close this letter without thanking my wife, Pat, for her ongoing encouragement and support of my vision, First Generation College Bound.

Welcome to our new website. I look forward to sharing my thoughts each month on how we can continue to make students’ college-bound dreams come true.

Joseph Fisher

“My child has been accepted to college and we are all excited. I have shared the news with relatives, friends, co-workers and many others. However, we just received the financial aid package and I can’t afford the cost for my child to attend. I do not want to disappoint my daughter, so what do I do?”

Here is what parents in this frequent situation can do. First, they need to review their financial situation and then share it with their child. Parents are passionate about their son or daughter attending college, but perhaps can’t afford a loan of $10,000 or more each year. Their child needs to hear this.

Second, dream colleges aren’t the only colleges. A college that is affordable and meets a child’s needs for success can be a better choice. I recall a student who attended a second-choice college because he was not accepted at (and could not afford) his first choice. He did well and attended the first-choice college for graduate school with tuition assistance from his job.

At this college-bound season of excitement and challenges, parents should:

1. Let their son or daughter know of their excitement over any college acceptances.  Hopefully, it is more than one college, and includes a community college
2. Wait for the financial packages from all the colleges to review affordability, then discuss this with their child. The child may not like the conversation, but the parent has to be realistic and upfront. Most students think parents have endless pockets, especially after listening to their peers.
3. Once the award packages come, parents should review them and make the best decision based on affordability and chance for student success. The parents should include other awards in the calculation only after confirming them. Most colleges give until May 1 to make a decision (committing after that date puts a student in jeopardy of not getting a room on campus).
4. If parents find that the cost of a four-year college too expensive, they should set their pride aside and  have their child attend a community college. Some community colleges have relationships with four-year colleges that assure tuition discounts to students who finish two years with a 3-plus average.
5. Parents should stay excited and optimistic about their child’s college-bound future. They should not worry about what others say, but rather stay grounded in the reality of their situations and what they can afford, especially in this challenging economic time. Their child will do the rest with their support and encouragement.

Joseph Fisher

Joseph Fisher, CEO & Founder