Post High School Planning
June 28, 2010 4 Comments
Our oldest starts her junior year of high school in August and this is the year the experts say we should start figuring out her plans for after graduation. First on the to-do list is to figure out what we can afford based on tuition, financial aid projections, scholarship potential, etc. Next on the list is to narrow the list down to a dozen or so schools that she is interested in and that we can afford and then start researching them, visiting and trying to narrow the list further. My personal goal is to have a list of 5-6 colleges that are serious contenders by the end of the 2010-2011 school year. She can spend the summer composing admissions essays and fretting over the minute details of her applications.
Another possibility that I want her to think about and she has been surprisingly willing to consider is to sit out a year and join a group like AmeriCorps. I think the experience would be pretty rewarding and if nothing else, maybe she will appreciate school that much more. Before we dig too far into that option we need to find out things like how college applications work when you want to wait a year and if the work she would be doing with a service group would be worth the commitment.
The last option I still want to keep on the horizon is junior college. This one is an area of friction between myself and my wife. She thinks it is a bad track to take and won’t give her the full ‘college experience’. I think it’s a smart choice financially as it gives her two years to save up money which might mean more choices for a university. Not surprisingly, I went to a junior college before transferring to university and my wife did not. My experience was a positive one while she also had a positive experience on a university campus, making friends, taking part in campus activities, etc.
I don’t know that there is a right or wrong answer but I was comforted a bit last week when I was talking with a family member who is also a dean at a college in the midwest. We were discussing the explosion in junior college enrollment and he was extremely complimentary of the education that someone can get at many of these schools. He confirmed what I experienced myself which is that in some cases the junior college professors exceed what one finds at a university.
Lots of options on the table and I hope we all enjoy the experience. The most important thing is that we find the best fit for our daughter and I am confident we will.
I went to a University, I took classes at a community college and I went to a trade school.
One of the best professors I had was at JCC, teaching developmental Psychology. I can still remember some of the stuff we covered in that class almost 20 years later.
My son will be in the 10th grade and we are starting to roll options around in our head as well.
Molly – I’m so sory I didn’t realize before that you were in Louisville. And so close to me (I’m also in the East End).
I also had a great experience at JCC. Very memorable professors. I started on the Southwest campus which I LOVED with all my heart. I reluctantly had to go downtown for more classes and then they pretty much told me it was time to go. My first day on that huge campus at UL was terrifying in comparison. I never enjoyed it there as much as I did JCC.
Not sure I mentioned it before.
I think I am going to mention JCC or LCC to the 15 yr old because it might be a great transition from HS to college if you aren’t interested in the whole Frat thing…
I just picked up More Magazine and they have an article about what a rip-off Ivy league schools are and other options for kids> Claudia Dryfus has written a book on the subject: Higher Education? How colleges are wasting our money and letting down our kids.
I think I might check it out.
I agree with you. My wife is going to be the hardest sell. My daughter seems really open to some different ideas. I think if I take the angle that she can do 2 years of junior college and 2 years at a college away from home she will like that a lot better than 4 years at UL.