FINANCIAL AID "HOLDS", College Decisions and Summer Opportunities

Hey, Seniors! Take some time to log in to your Student Hubs or Portals (Click here for some direction!) and your college emails. If there are documents or pieces of information missing, you'll have a HOLD on your account. This can prevent you from getting a Financial Aid Package ($$$), being able to register for orientation, and stop you from being able to register for classes.

Let's get these things FIGURED OUT!

In your portal, be sure to click on tabs regarding Financial Aid and look for Red Flags 🔺 or other 'warning' signs. Each college uses different symbols! Usually you'll also have an email letting you know there are issues with your Financial Aid Package. Sometimes, following the link in your email will take you to the right place to resolve the issue.

Metro State Financial Aid

Colorado Opportunity Fund - $ for College!

University of Colorado Denver Financial Aid 

Community College Denver Scholarship Assistance- $TILL AVAILABLE! 

If you are still deciding which college to attend, check this out for some questions to ask yourself as you decide. Remember to ask people who are important to you and know you well what they think! They may know or notice something about you and your college choices that you haven't thought of before!

If you are attending one of the schools listed below, click here to sign up for a Summer Institute. Your Colorado Challenge Advisor will help you with any issues on your account, registering for classes and just getting used to college in general! AWESOME! There will be FREE FOOD TOO! 😀

Adams State University
Community College of Aurora
Colorado State University
Colorado State University Pueblo
Community College of Denver
Metro State University
University of Colorado Denver

Your College Student Portals (aka Hubs)

SENIORS! Remember to check your Student Portals or Hubs regularly for the colleges you are considering attending. If you have not set up your accounts, go to your college's website RIGHT NOW and sign in! Typically your Letter of Acceptance will include the necessary instructions for logging in to your Portal and/or email. You'll often need the Student # assigned to you along with the temporary password provided by each college. REMEMBER TO KEEP TRACK OF YOUR USERNAMES/STUDENT #s and PASSWORDS! You need to check your emails and portal/hub several times a week. Your college(s) will send you email reminders and requests to your .edu email so this essential for staying on top of enrollment requirements and red flags!

Here are the links to directions for many of your schools of choice. As always, let me know if you have ANY questions!

Community College of Denver- CCDConnect Guides

CCDConnect Log In Page

If you have not set up your University of Colorado Denver account, start here.

UCD Log In Page

UCD Webmail

UCD Resources and Portals

Metro State University Denver Student Hub Page

MSU "After You've Been Admitted" Steps

Colorado State University RAMweb Log In Page

Arapahoe Community College- How to Create your myACC Log In

myACC Log In Page

Continuing Your College Search

Hey Juniors, Make sure you are taking time each week to search for colleges and scholarships that work for YOU! You should have quite the list on your spreadsheet by now.

Here are a few more tools to help you refine your selections!

The College Navigator can help you identify schools that fit with your ideal college experience.

But what is YOUR IDEAL? Take some time to answer the following questions!

1) Location: Do you want to be close to home? Far away? In the city? In a rural area?

2) Do you want to attend a large school? A small school? Consider what the pros and cons are for both and remember the conversations we've had about resources, class sizes, diversity, and support systems!

3) What academic programs are you interested in and how rigorous are these programs? Even if you are not 100% sure what you'd like to study, you can use the College Navigator tool to find schools that will cater to your interests.

4) Cost! Be sure to identify the cost of attendance for the schools on your YESS College Research spreadsheet. Remember a lot of schools offer great scholarships, so a high price tag shouldn't stop you from applying to the school of your dreams. But do be realistic about what you can afford!

5) What is the social scene like? What kind of clubs are you interested in? Does the school have a party reputation? Is it a commuter campus (where students all live elsewhere) or do you want to live ON campus?

6) Food! We all know that's important! Do some research about what's available at your chosen schools. Maybe you should add a food column to your YESS College Research spreadsheet!

7) Sports and other extracurriculars may be really important to you. Do you want there to be a great soccer team to follow? Do you want to play a sport for your college? Both are great ways of meeting people!

Decisions! Decisions!

It's time to decide where you are headed next fall. Hopefully you've taken time to enjoy your acceptance letters and consider your choices. If you haven't yet, it's a good idea to make a pros/cons spreadsheet with a worksheet for each school you are seriously considering. List the BEST things about each school and the WORST things. This can range from the amount of money schools are offering you to the cafeteria food to distance from home. Talk to your friends about how they are making their decisions. Talk to trusted adults about how they chose a college (if they did) and what they think is best for you. It's good to have a few different perspectives!

A huge piece of your decision will likely be regarding School Aid offers. Here are some tips!
Remember to use the price calculator to clarify the cost to you. Both of these links will take you to pages that also break down types of aid, types of loans. This one will compare the cost of a few of your possible schools with each other.

When considering what college to attend, remember to focus on YOUR LONG-TERM GOALS! For example, while it may be fun to go to college with your best friend, if that school doesn't have the program you are interested in...it doesn't make sense for your long-term goals.

Consider the following 25 questions compiled by USA Today.

Yes, that's a lot of questions but this is a BIG decision!

1.) Is the city or town that the college is located in one that you’d like living in? Or has location never been something that’s negatively affected your day-to-day life?

2.) Is dorm life, as portrayed on a school’s website or seen during your campus visit, the experience you’re looking for?

3.) Does the school have the major you want and is the program sufficient? If not, is there a similar major offered?

4.) Is it a city that will have internships in your field or will you have to travel for that experience?

5.) Is it a social campus, a commuter campus or a quiet campus? Which do you prefer, and are you willing to compromise on this point?

6.) Is the school within your price range or worth going into debt over? Are they offering you scholarships or grants if you go there?

7.) Is the campus visually pleasant and a place you’d be okay spending a good chunk of your time on?

8.) If you end up landing a great job in town before or right after graduating, would you be okay living there? Same question for if you get married or meet the love of your life.

9.) What’s the weather like there? Is there a lot of one kind of weather, like snow or rain, that you love or can’t stand?

10.) Are the professors at the school renowned in their fields? Do they have doctorate degrees or books published? Do you care?

11.) How well does the school rank academically? Are you in a field where that matters at all?

12.) Has the school had significant price hikes from year to year, making it difficult to gauge how much it’d cost to attend for four years?

13.) Are the students at the college happy? Have you researched that or asked around, perhaps by emailing current students?

14.) Does the school have any interesting electives you’d like to take, such as philosophy of film or yoga?

15.) Are there any infringing rules the school places on students even off campus, such as no drinking or smoking, that you’d inevitably rebel against or despise?

16.) Does the cost of living in the city sound reasonable for a college student? (Remember, unless you’re living off financial aid in the dorms, you’ll likely move off campus for most of your years there).

17.) Is the school a weekend trip’s distance away from home? Does it matter to you how far away from home it is?

18.) Do you have any friends or acquaintances attending the school or living in the city? Or does it sound more exciting to you to go knowing no-one?

19.) Is there a line of successful alumni from the school? Have you browsed through the college’s alumni magazine or checked the alumni section of the website?

20.) Is the school located within a reasonable day’s drive to other thriving cities? This could be a consideration if, during your junior and senior years, you can apply for internships and jobs there and be able to drive there and back within the same day for interviews.

21.) Is there a good scene for whatever niche group you’re part of, such as a Christian club on campus or a libertarian group? If not, how about in the city?

22.) Does the college have big or small classes or both? Which do you prefer or think you’d prefer?

23.) Is the campus big or small? Can you reasonably walk from class to class in a decent length of time or would it be better to bike or bus?

24.) Are the professors kind or approachable? Have you checked some professor ratings on sites like ratemyprofessors.com or asked current students?

25.) Can you imagine going to any other school more than this one? Or does this one just feel right? How important do you regard your feelings vs. logic?