What is decision day? Decision day is when high school seniors should be making decisions and finalizing their fall college plans. Historically, decision day has been May 1st, and for some colleges it still is. Other colleges, however, may have extended their decision day to a later date, maybe June 1st for example, due to COVID19. Students should check with colleges they are interested in to find out what their deadlines are.
By decision day, hopefully students have applied to the colleges of their choice, applied for and received financial aid packages, and are ready to decide which college or university they would like to attend this fall. Now, it doesn’t mean that a student could not make that decision sooner, many students have, nor does it mean that they HAVE to make the decision by decision day. Ideally, though, students will be able to decide, let the college they would like to attend know, and let the other colleges they have been accepted to know that they are no longer interested in attending. Once that is done, students can finalize their housing plans and register for summer orientation.
One of the major factors in determining where a student will attend college is how much it will cost the student out of pocket to attend. At ICAN, we have many resources that a student/family can utilize to help in making that decision.
Webinars and pre-recorded presentations
On Tuesday, May 6 at 1 pm we have a live webinar on Covering College Costs: Understanding and Comparing Financial Aid Packages. You can register here. If you visit www.icansucceed.org/videos, we have pre-recorded presentations including, Covering College Costs: Understanding and Comparing Financial Aid Packages that you can watch at any time.
Resource Materials
In our Resource Zone, we have a Materials Library where you can download materials including our Comparing College Costs Worksheet
Also in the Resource Zone, we have links to Planning and Budgeting Calculators including the Student Loan Game Plan. The Student Loan Game Plan has several tools that students can use including the College Funding Forecaster, where students can enter in information from their financial aid packages to help them determine what the out of pocket costs are at the colleges they are considering. This can also help them decide if they need to borrow student loans and hopefully gets them to borrow less money.
Good luck in your decision! Remember, if you need additional assistance in making your decision, please feel free to contact us at ICAN and we can either talk over the phone, or through a virtual appointment. You can scheduling online at www.icansucceed.org/apt or call us toll free at 877-272-4692.
John - ICAN Waterloo and Hiawatha Centers
