1. HELP!!! My child is going to be a senior next year!!!! What do I do now?

2. Everyone has a Job to do… School’s Job- Provide a quality education to your child. Offer college and career readiness opportunities such as Career Tech courses and Guidance sessions to help students make good decisions about their future. Provide students with access and information regarding admissions, scholarships, and financial aid for College. Student’s Job- Take Core and Career Tech classes to explore interesting possible careers. Maintain a good GPA. Apply to colleges that interest them. Seek and Apply for scholarships and financial aid to help fund their education. Parent’s Job- Be Interested, Informed, and Involved!

3. First Things First ACT- Your child has 5 more opportunities to take the ACT before the December 1 st deadline for most four year schools in the state of Alabama. April 12 th April 23 rd June 14 th September 13 th October 25 th www.actstudent.org sign up using this link! www.actstudent.org GPA- Have your child stop by my office & pick up an unofficial copy of their transcript to find their current rank & GPA. It will be important information for you and your child to have in the coming months. This will change only one more time before they begin applying to colleges.

4. Second things Second Your child just registered for senior year classes. If you did not discuss these classes with them, please call me @ 256-218-2006 to make sure you approve of their selections. We require a signature on their registration forms but ‘sometimes’ they forge your signatures =( Encourage your child to be involved in as many clubs and extracurricular activities as possible. We need full resume’s for college admission & scholarships!

5. Third things Third Talk about the “7 holy questions” with your child. 1. Do you want to want to move away or stay home for a year or two after high school? 2. If you want to move away, how far? (AU & UA are about 3-4 hours away from home) 3. A full Pell Grant is around $5,550 per YEAR for those who qualify. Classes, books, & fees at most community colleges is about that much per year. Four year public schools can cost DOUBLE that. Which choice is in our price range? 4. What is your ACT score? (you have to have a 22 or above for AU & UA in most cases) 5. What is your GPA? (most 4 year schools require at least a 2.5) 6. Have you talked with your teachers & your counselors about which type of college might be right for you? 7. What are you thinking of majoring in? If you have no idea, what did your Interest & Apptitude tests that you completed with Mrs. Petty & Ms. Kirby say? (copies of these are kept in the counselor’s office)

6. Fourth things Fourth Encourage your child to go ahead & start searching for scholarships on Scholarships.com. It is free & easy! It will even sort scholarship applications for you by monthly deadline dates! Encourage your child to begin a rough draft of a Resume. This will give you both a good understanding of where you are & help set goals for where you need to be.

7. Fifth things Fifth It’s time for your child to make their ‘Long List’ of colleges they’d like to explore. This is actually kinda fun! A little like making a wish list for Christmas out of the Sears catalog when we were little! Start looking online at the college websites for summer preview days. Get out your calendar’s & start exploring! Have fun, this should be relaxing, NOT STRESSFUL! Remember, you’re just shopping around. Don’t rule out Private colleges immediately just because their price tag looks scary. SOMETIMES they can offer financial aid packages that can whittle your out of pocket cost down to the same price you may pay for public school.

8. Last things Last PLEASE start an open line of communication with your child about post-secondary plans. For the next year, you should be talking about this at least weekly. Make it a family priority. Even if you never went to college yourself, your child needs someone to talk to about their excitement, their fears, their expectations, & their dreams. This is the MOST important thing…