College Funding is Possible for Anyone!

Guest Blogger: Whitney McGinnis, OrgSync Campus Liaison

Many young people are probably asking themselves, “How am I going to afford to go to college in this global financial crisis that we are in?” The more important question to ask is, “How can I NOT afford to go to college?” When the economy settles it will be more important than ever to have a college degree.

Lots of students think that college is too expensive and out of reach, but that’s where things such as scholarships, grants, and financial aid loans come into the picture. I have a lot of friends who are paying for college without any assistance from their parents, and say that it took a bit more effort to find the grants and scholarships, but that it is totally worth it.

It is important to compare cost of attendance (COA) when choosing which college you can afford to attend:

1. Look for the school’s total COA—which includes tuition, fees, room, board, books, travel, and miscellaneous living expenses. This information will be located on the institution’s website or at their financial aid office.
2. Make sure you are not given the total “direct costs,” which only accounts for tuition, fees, room, and board. Federal law requires schools to make their official total cost of attendance available to students.
3. You may want to subtract your grants and scholarships from the COA to see how much money you will contribute to your COA either out-of-pocket or with student loans and if this amount is feasible. Your prospective college’s financial aid office will help you with the math if you have any problems.

So, how can you pay for college? According to a study by US News, almost 87% of college students have some sort of Aid (scholarships, grants, or financial aid) to help them pay for school, with the largest majority of aid coming from federal financial aid.
How does a student choose which type of aid is right for them? Start by:

1. Filling out a FAFSA form (Free Application for Federal Student Aid; http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ ), to gain access to many unknown scholarships and grants.
2. Check with your school or University’s financial aid office to gain information about scholarships and grants that may be available to you by the school.
3. Talk with your school guidance counselor about scholarships they might know about. Many times community groups will have a scholarship set up that students are not aware of and the money goes unused.
4. Search the Internet for possible scholarships or grants.

Remember that there are people and institutions who want to give money away, you just have to be willing to put in the time to do the research, fill out the application, and write a few essays, (essays you can possibly utilize for multiple applications.)

Almost anyone will tell you that the expense of college is worth the benefits. This is my Cost of Attendance per semester:

Tuition :$2,000
Books: $500
Room & Board: $3,000
Lab Fees: $125
Miscellaneous: $500
Lessons learned, friends made, & experiences gained : PRICELESS

Guest Blogger: LaRoun Tolbert; OrgSync Campus Liaison for Bowling Green University.

Every year the world is continuing to advance itself and becoming more fast paced. People have become so accustomed to life on the web, we are technological people and our main source of connectivity is via the internet. Meeting up virtually eliminates many barriers and is beneficial for people and the environment.

Online Virtual Meetings are Green & Efficient.

Virtual Meetings Reduce Corporate Expenses
Introducing online conferencing into a company’s program could reduce costs tremendously. For example, meeting virtually can:
• Eliminate the cost of catering and other amenities provided at conferences
• Help large national corporations or national causes cut travel expenses necessary for internal strategic meetings

Virtual Meeting Help Faculty and Administration Become More Efficient
Faculty and Administration can also benefit from meeting virtually and manage office hours easier. They have the option of:
• Holding video conferences with several students at a time to make general meetings more efficient
• Keeping communication open with commuter students by conveniently meeting online

Virtual Meeting are Environmentally Friendly
E-conferences facilitate environmentally friendly or “green” initiatives by:
• Lowering car usage and gas emission into the air by reducing travel
• Increasing sustainability efforts by saving paper and money on handouts that are available online

Now and the Years to Come
Meeting virtually will be without doubt the way of the future. Generation Y will soon be out of college and enter the workforce; this generation was practically raised on the internet. With that said, online activity will pick up speed like a snowball coming down a mountain, thus increasing our efficiency and our contributions to green causes.

Guest Blogger: Jeff Lail is the Assistant Student Center Manager of the Brower Student Center at the College of New Jersey. His position integrates student center management as well as student activities and programming. You can read more of his work at the Student Affairs Collaborative blog as well as his personal blog.

Will Social Media be used to increase student learning outcomes?

We’ve heard a lot of discussion lately in student affairs about whether or not our departments would benefit from using technology and if we should use it to assist us in accomplishing department goals. These are all very important topics to discuss, especially when considering venturing into the scary world of social media

Web 2.0, popularly called social media, provides our students with an amazing opportunity to share themselves and what they do with literally the entire world. This can provide multiple benefits to their lives, from connecting them with other people of like interests to building their professional networks. Not to mention the intrinsic benefits of practicing their writing, building their communication skills by keeping up with old friends and new friends, or trying out a new area such as photography and sharing these attempts with the world.

Most of the education on Web 2.0 and social media taught on campus is, “Don’t post this and dont say that! Or it’ll get ya in the end!” We tell our students not to post pictures of themselves on Facebook engaging in debauchery, not to say things that are offensive and not to treat the internet as a free space to do whatever they want. But in my experience, we don’t do enough to tell our students what TO do. Technology should never be a burden but instead should be a tool to improve productivity and get the maximum worth for our efforts. If this is not the case, we are either using it wrong or the technology isn’t worth our time.

I wonder if the day is upon us when we will have learning outcomes and education for our students on how to use social media to benefit their professional life. If I were to write these outcomes they might include some things like sharing your best work, finding other people with similar interests through Twitter and pursuing your passion for photography by posting pictures on Flickr.

We are in an unprecedented time where students can impact their lives from their own home computer through social media. With any change comes significant positives and negatives, but much like OrgSync attempts, we can educate our students on how to make the most out of these new technologies instead of simply trying to scare them into not doing something wrong.

Original image of Jump on the Social Bandwagon.

Guest Blogger: Evelyn Wang, former OrgSync Marketing Intern, Student at the University of Texas at Austin

As I grow older and hopefully wiser, I have come to the conclusion – communities matter. Before coming to college, I never fully comprehended the importance of having a group of friends and belonging to a community. Not to say, I didn’t have friends before college, but from elementary to high school my classes were filled with the same 30 students. Everything was familiar and structured; I knew where I belonged and fit in.

However, everything changed after graduating high school. We all went our separate ways – different colleges and different life paths. From my class, I was one of the three people that went to The University of Texas at Austin. When I arrived at UT, things were certainly different. I felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, and I was definitely not “in Kansas anymore.” Like most freshman, I had a difficult time adjusting to college. Actually, that might be an understatement. I had an extremely difficult time adjusting to college. Everything about it – the unfamiliarity, the people, the campus size, the crowded sidewalks and hallways, all the idle time I had, and the absolute lack of freedom from not having a car in Austin, it spun my world around.

As a freshman, I would have never thought I’d stay at UT long enough to graduate, let alone miss UT. But here I am, attending my last semester at UT, a bit disappointed that my college career is almost over.

So, how did I manage to turn things around, succeed and have a different opinion about UT? In hindsight, it was definitely the people I connected myself to through the communities I joined my first year in college. By joining a Freshman Interest Group and an organization called Christians On Campus, I was able to meet and befriend people who shared my interests that would ultimately be the support I needed to succeed at UT.

Student groups provide a sense of belonging.

With encouragement from these friends, I soon joined a business club, the McCombs Diversity Council and was able to expand my network and become more involved in school. I can say with absolute certainty I would NOT have continued my studies at UT if it were not for my involvement in these groups. I would be living at home in Dallas, attending UTA, never leaving my comfort zone, and definitely not growing as a person.

The three student organizations I joined early on helped me form a group of friends and become a part of a community. I met peers that helped me enjoy my college experience, and who have probably influenced and impacted my life in ways I will never know. This was essential to my development as a student and in many ways saved my college career. Student organizations and communities on campus matter more than most people realize. Connections keep people growing and developing, and I was certainly no exception.

Student Speaking with Advisor

Blog By: Whitney McGinnis, OrgSync Campus Liaison, Emporia State University

Most students do not realize the vital role academic advisors can play in their college career and future profession.  Advisors not only help you enroll in classes, but they can write recommendation letters and be your resource and connection to future internships, programs, conferences, and much more.

At the start of my junior year, I became a Social Justice major and was assigned a new advisor.  During our first meeting he was genuinely interested in my favorite subjects, as well as my future career and personal plans.  We discussed classes I could take and internships I should apply to; I realized how valuable my relationship with my advisor is and that I did not take complete advantage of the relationship I could have had with previous advisor as most of peers mistakenly do.

To benefit from having a relationship with your advisor and take full advantage of this valuable resource, prior to an advising appointment, you should:

1. Determine the purpose of your advising appointment and express this to your advisor.  Your advisor is in the best position to advise if (s)he knows what you want to discuss- i.e. class scheduling, research opportunities &  graduate school preparation.

2. Create and bring a list of questions and concerns to your appointment.  Leave space on the page to take notes.

3. Bring a folder with all of your ‘official’ school documents. Your folder should include:

-An up-to-date official transcript that includes coursework in progress and a current degree audit, if available

-Any worksheets or checklists you and your advisor have been working on.

-Materials related to any program, job, or internship you are considering applying for.

4. Have a plan of attack when setting your class schedule. Consider and think about your personal preferences and obligations when constructing a class schedule and extracurricular activities.

-Any outside obligations (work, practice schedules).

-What kind of learning environment is best for you? What time of day are you fully functional and at your best?

-Do you have a particular instructor or course format that works best for you?

-Consider where classroom buildings are in relation to your other classes.  Do you have enough time to make it from one building to another?