Speaker for Session at Tampa NACAC College Fair

If you are in the Tampa area, please stop into the NACAC National College Fair at the Convention Center on March 13 from 12-3pm. This is the largest College Fair held on the West Coast of Florida with over 200 colleges and universities from around the nation in attendance. There are also sessions on Athletic Recruiting, Selective College Admissions and Financial Aid. I'll be the presenter for the 1pm Session on Getting Started - Tips for Every College Bound 10th and 11th grader! For a copy of the power point - email me a request.

Claiming Your Educational Tax Credit

How to Get Money Back for College
By Howard Freedman

One of the best financial rewards for attending college is the tax break the IRS provides for students attending qualified educational institutions.

Unfortunately many families may overlook these programs because important tax information is normally sent to the student and not the parent who claims them as a dependent on their tax return.

This is a common oversight that can be avoided when you understand what to do when you receive Form1098-T: Tuition Payments Statement. It is the information return that colleges and universities are required to issue for a student's eligibility for the American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning credits. These and other education credits are explained in the IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education available on-line at www.irs.gov.

Most accredited public, nonprofit, and private postsecondary institutions such as colleges, universities, vocational schools or other post secondary educational institutions must file Form 1098-T for qualified tuition and related expenses. Expenses can either be reported as the amount received or the amount billed for qualified tuition and related educational expenses from any source during the calendar year.

The 1098-T is either mailed or electronically sent to each student as well as the IRS. Unlike a W-2, this is an informational return that reports qualified expenses and other information for determining whether the taxpayer qualifies for these credits and does not have to be submitted with the taxpayer’s federal income tax return.

Students should be sensitive to the importance of form 1098T as much as they are for receiving their W-2. They should contact their financial aid office to find out how to get a duplicate copy if they have not received one by the end of January. Delivery problems can occur if the student’s address or e-mail accounts are not up to date.

Form 1098 T report qualified expenses regardless of whether they were paid for in cash, loans etc. In other words, this is what the student was charged for the qualified education expenses. Explanations of these other information are on the back of this form.

You may ask, if this is so simple how can there be any problems? Although the rules are well explained, beware of the following trouble spots.

• The parents that claim the credit for himself or herself, a spouse or the student they claim as their dependent and take tax exemption can claim the tax credit even if the student did not contribute to their education.
• A student can claim the tax credit if they take the tax exemption and are not taken as a dependent on their parents tax return.
• Families should determine the economic tax advantages consult with a tax professional when determining who should take the tax exemption.
• Parents cannot take the credit if their filing status is married filing separately.
• Taxpayers can file amended tax returns to recapture these credits per IRS regulations that applied to the years that they could have been taken.

The American Opportunity Credit allows up to a $2,500 tax credit per eligible student to reduce the amount of income tax paid. This credit reduces taxes unlike a deduction that reduces the amount of income subject to this tax. The tax credit is available for only 4 tax years per eligible student pursuing an undergraduate degree or other recognized educational credential. The student must be enrolled at least halftime for at least one academic period that begins during the tax year. Qualified expenses are tuition and fees required for enrollment. Course related books, supplies and equipment do not need to be purchased from the institution to qualify. There can be no felony or drug convictions on a student’s record. This deduction is subject to income limits described in Publication 970.

The Lifetime Learning Credit allows up to a $2,500 tax credit per tax return to reduce the amount of income tax paid. The tax credit is available for an unlimited number of years. The student does not need to be pursuing a degree or other recognized education credential and may take one or more courses. Course-related books, supplies and equipment paid to the institution qualify. Students with felony drug convictions are eligible. This deduction is subject to income limits described in Publication 970.

Although students may not be involved in preparing tax returns, they should be on the lookout for form 1098T and tell you if and when it is received. Reducing a parent’s tax liability frees up additional dollars that can be used to reduce the need for borrowing more for college. The process or determining eligibility for either program is relatively painless. There are also many other educational credits deductions for loans, tuition and fees, etc. described in IRS publication 970 for which you may qualify.

The Passing of the Baton….from the Class of 2011 to the Class of 2012

Spring is around the corner and in high schools juniors and seniors are looking ahead to next year.

February is the time that high school students review their course selections and make their choices for next year. It’s the time for students to take stock of their progress first semester and how their successes will help pave the way for their plans for next a fall.

For Juniors preparing for college this means taking the most rigorous senior schedule that they can handle well keeping in mind a balance between academics and extra curricular activities. As the seniors will soon be graduating the leadership for many of the school’s clubs, organizations, athletics, and student government begins to shift to them. Community service, employment, and family obligations also need to be figured into the picture. Taking the time to write down your commitments and goals along side the academic choices will help to clarify the choices and enhance your chances of selecting the right courses for you. Generally, colleges will review your schedule with two key aspects in mind: strength of schedule and record of achievement. Showing increasing rigor and a positive trend in marks throughout high school are ideal indicators for success in college. Strength in schedule is determined both by the breadth (taking all 5 core subjects all four years) as well as increasing rigor (moving into honors and AP or IB courses, if available).

For Seniors keeping pace with your course work, school and leadership obligations, and community service projects will ensure the strong finish that college admissions offices are counting on once your admissions decisions are received. Offers of admissions are all “conditional” in fact – meaning that the college anticipates the same continued success that you demonstrated in your application for admission. If in the end your grades tank or you “drop the ball in other significant ways”, the college can and sometimes does, rescind their offer of admission. Some believe that the second semester of a student’s senior year is the best predictor of what lies ahead in the first year of college. Finish strong and you’ll have no problems ….or regrets. Be sure to stay in touch with the colleges that interest you and attend open houses or visit colleges that you haven’t yet seen. Compare carefully your financial aid information to understand the cost of attendance at each of your colleges. Review the housing and orientation information and be sure to reply by the deadlines. Most colleges have enrollment deposits due on May 1.

Sarasota Herald Tribune Features College Counseling

The education editor of the Sarasota Herald Tribune interviewed me for a feature article about college planning. It ran recently on the front page. Here's the link to the on-line version:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20101026/ARTICLE/10261051/2416/NEWS?Title=In-pursuit-of-the-perfect-college-some-seek-an-independent-guide

Surviving the College Search

Teenagers across the nation are receiving more and more mail from colleges each day. Their classmates are talking about admissions rates and test scores while their friends, parents, and even distant relatives are inquiring about their plans for college. All are indicators that high school will be coming to an end and the next step awaits them.

Many students feel overwhelmed at the beginning of their college search. After all, this is perhaps the biggest decision that they will have to make. With this pressure, no wonder most teenagers are intimidated!

By breaking down the college search into steps it’s easier to get started and to stay on track. Here are some things to keep in mind this summer:

1. Begin by thinking about what you enjoy the most, what bores you, what are your strengths or talents? Think broadly – not just academically, but socially, artistically, athletically, and personally.
2. Once you have a list of your basic interest and abilities, reflect on the following: your learning style, do you enjoy learning in large or smaller groups, do you seek diversity among your friends or prefer people who are similar to you, are you comfortable in the city or in a rural area, what else helps to describe your preferences.
3. Test your imagination. Close you eyes and envision your ideal college. While you have that picture in your mind, write down what you see in your classroom, in your residence hall, on a Saturday evening, etc.
4. Translate these impressions into characteristics you’d like to see in a college.
5. Gather the viewbooks you’ve been receiving and sort them into three piles – Yes, No, and Maybe based on these characteristics.
6. Take a closer look at the Yes pile – what do these colleges have in common?
7. Run a college search on line: www.collegeboard.com, www.petersons.com, www.princetonreview.com for more options check the recommended website page of www.collegecounselling.com
8. Visit different types of colleges this summer: a large research university (USF, UF, UCF), a medium size college (U of Miami, Emory U, UNF, FGCU), and a small liberal arts campus (Eckerd C, Stetson, Rollins). Evaluate each after your visit with your impressions.

If you are a rising senior, the summer is also a good time to begin rough drafts of your essays and complete a resume. Many colleges begin to post their application for admission on their website in August so you can begin to complete them before school begins. Getting a jump start on your college applications will improve the quality of what you send, as well as your chances for admission.

Next time you’re asked about what college you want to attend….you’ll be able to describe what you’re looking for! Good luck!!

Interviewed for Washington Post article

Recently I was interviewed for an article in the Washington Post. The reporter was investigating possible explanations for the record low admit rates at some of the nations most selective colleges (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Stanford, etc.).

New generation of college hopefuls apply to many schools
By Daniel de Vise
Thursday, April 22, 2010

After an early rebuff from Stanford University, Montgomery Blair senior Scott Yu, a straight-A student with a perfect SAT score, was offered admission to 12 schools. (Mark Gail/the Washington Post)

Diana Barthauer, who lives in Switzerland, applied to 20 schools and netted 15 offers. "The reason I did so many applications was that the admission rates are so low," she said. "But then, I pushed them down by doing it, so it's kind of ironic." (Courtesy Of Diana Barthauer)

Scott Yu had the strongest possible credentials: a perfect SAT score, a perfect high school transcript and conservatory-quality piano skills. But his first foray into college admissions, an "early-action" application to Stanford, landed in limbo with a deferral.

His faith shaken, Yu responded the way any straight-A student would, with a flurry of work. He applied to every college in the Ivy League, along with Duke, MIT, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Maryland and the New England Conservatory in Boston. For his efforts, the Rockville teen reaped 12 offers of admission. He now faces a not-very-painful choice among Harvard, Yale and MIT.

Yu, a senior in the Science, Mathematics and Computer Science Magnet Program at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, represents a new generation of college applicant. Spooked by single-digit admission rates at the top private schools, students sweeten the odds by applying to more of them. And, thus, the applicant pool runneth over.

Harvard, the nation's oldest college, crossed a symbolic threshold this year when it received more than 30,000 applications for about 1,600 seats in its freshman class. With 1.5 million students expected to enter four-year colleges this fall, that means that about one in 50 applied to Harvard. Brown University passed the same milestone this year, Stanford last year.

One-fifth of college applicants nationwide apply to seven or more schools, twice the rate of a decade ago, according to data from the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Yu, 18, knew he was a strong candidate. But he didn't know how strong. The early rebuff from Stanford -- a school not in the Ivy League but just as selective -- unnerved him. He sat at his computer with two Harvard teddy bears for luck as he checked for news April 1, the deadline for most admissions departments to let students know whether they got in. "I didn't mean to apply to this many schools," he said. "You can't really gauge your qualifications as a candidate until you get in somewhere."

Students apply to more schools partly because they can: Today's online applications are more easily replicated than the paper forms of previous decades. But that's not the only factor. The biggest surge has come at the most selective schools, where fewer than half of applicants gain admission. Students apply to twice as many schools as their parents did on the theory that they are half as likely to get in.

Admission rates fell this year to 6.9 percent at Harvard, 7.2 percent at Stanford, 7.5 percent at Yale, 8.2 percent at Princeton, 9.2 percent at Columbia and 9.3 percent at Brown. As recently as 2003, when fewer students competed for the same number of seats, all of those schools admitted more than 10 percent of applicants.

Worldwide interest
Ivy League schools are getting more applications from every part of the globe. Diana Barthauer, who lives in Switzerland, started with a slate of 50 schools and narrowed it to 20. She netted 15 offers, including Columbia, Stanford and Dartmouth, and rejections from MIT, Princeton and the University of Cambridge in England. Two colleges in China haven't replied.
"The reason I did so many applications was that the admission rates are so low," she said. "But then, I pushed them down by doing it, so it's kind of ironic."

Is there any harm in applying to colleges en masse? Counselors and deans are divided.
The fundamentals of admission advice have not changed. Most students are counseled to apply to at least three schools: one that is deemed a "match," a less selective "safety" school and a more selective "reach." Two of each would not be deemed excessive. "I say four to six. I used to say three to five. They end up applying to six to eight," said Robin Groelle, director of college counseling at St. Stephen's Episcopal School, a college-prep school in Bradenton, Fla.

Some students apply scattershot to top schools, without regard for "fit" or "match." They raise their chances of getting in somewhere. They might also be wasting their time. "It's more work for us, and it's more work for the colleges," said Timothy Gallen, director of college counseling at the private Solebury School in New Hope, Pa. "It's playing the game, more than anything."

The process also can be expensive. Applications to selective colleges cost about $50 each, although fee waivers are available for low-income students.

The expanding applicant pool is not simply a matter of more applications per student. There has also been a growing population of college-bound seniors, although it is thought to have peaked last year and is expected to decline. And a larger share of applications is going to the most selective schools, which together receive 31 percent of applications but enroll 18 percent of freshmen. Deans say their applicant pools are larger, more diverse and better qualified than in previous generations in terms of grade-point averages and SAT scores.

"The long and short of it is, there has been a remarkable democratization of higher education in the past 50 years in the United States," said William Fitzsimmons, admissions dean at Harvard. He said his department's goal is to get a Harvard application "on the kitchen table of every student in America who has a chance of getting in."

'Come out of nowhere'
For the broader population of public and private colleges, the explosion in applications means more selectivity, but also more headaches.

The average four-year college, public and private, received 24 percent more applications in 2006 than 2002, according to an analysis of the latest available data by the admissions counseling group. The average admission rate narrowed from 71 percent in 2001 to 67 percent in 2007. The share of students who were admitted and chose to enroll also declined in that span, from 49 percent to 45 percent.

The rise of mass applications has complicated the task of predicting who will enroll. Increasing numbers of applicants "come out of nowhere" and have no connection to the college, said David Hawkins, director of public policy and research at the admissions counseling group. "And [colleges] just don't have much intelligence on what these students' intentions are."

Colleges have courted mass applicants -- and higher application numbers -- by adopting the Common Application and putting forms online. But they also pay closer attention to an applicant's "demonstrated interest," Hawkins said, weighing such factors as correspondence or a visit to campus.

Admissions departments rely more heavily on early-decision and early-action programs, which deliver decisions to applicants sooner, in trade for a hope -- or an expectation -- that they will attend.

The University of Pennsylvania locked in half its freshman class this year through early decision. The effect on regular applicants was somewhat like scouting tickets for a rock concert that had been heavily pre-sold. With 26,938 applicants for 2,420 slots, the school's overall admission rate was 14 percent. For regular-decision applicants: 10 percent.

"How many offers of admission can we go out with on April 1, knowing that we already have 49 percent of our class spoken for?" said Eric Furda, dean of admissions.
Despite the long odds, some in the industry envision an emerging buyer's market in college admissions. The ease of applying to any college, anywhere, gives motivated students a fighting chance in shopping among schools with single-digit admission rates.

"I think they know that they can be consumers in this process, whereas maybe 10 years ago, it was the college that was picking the student," said Kristin White, director of marketing and communication at Westover School, a private girls school in Connecticut. "They're comparison shoppers now."

Missan DeSouza, a senior at Westover School, applied to 19 colleges. Some, such as Wellesley and Connecticut College, fit the liberal-arts mold of Westover. Others, including John Jay College and West Virginia University, had strong programs in forensic science, an interest she acquired from her mother, a Brooklyn police officer. She added several to the list because they offered strong academics and a lower price, or promised merit aid.

Thirteen colleges offered her admission. Ursinus College included a $30,000 scholarship, and John Jay would effectively cost nothing. But she is leaning toward three others: Wellesley, Middlebury College or George Washington University.

"I'm feeling it was really smart of me to apply to so many," she said, "because now I have enough options."

For Seniors- Now that you're in....

Making the Final Selection of College

After receiving admissions offers, students can celebrate four years’ work of achievements with family, friends, teachers and their school counselor. For many students, the financial fit needs to be right, too; by looking over merit and financial aid offers and comparing these with the cost of attendance (COA). Then, as seniors begin to consider their college options, it’s always important to remember that they’re not just choosing a school, but also a community that should feel like home. That’s why spring is a great time to make a campus visit.

Finding a Community that Fits

Even if seniors have visited campus before they applied, visiting after being admitted can help them make their final choice. Many universities offer special events for admitted students and families – often referred to Preview Days. It’s always nice to balance official campus events with informal opportunities to get a feel for the campus community. Campus events may include an information session, campus tour, student panels, and meetings with professors. Informal ways to get to know a school could include going to lunch at a dining hall, exploring the student center, or attending an athletic event, club meeting or class. Families can also use free time to explore the city by visiting local restaurants, museums, and touring the neighborhood.

Once the Decision is Made

Once the enrollment deposit is sent confirming a student’s decision, contact each of the other colleges where admission was granted and let them know of the decision to attend elsewhere. Because this often is their first time living away from home, students should complete the housing forms thoughtfully (and candidly); spending some time thinking about living preferences. This will help to make for an easier transition!

By taking some time in the spring to get to know the colleges, campus life, and housing, students can make informed decisions as they select the college or university that will be a good fit for them.