{"id":1889,"date":"2024-08-29T20:51:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T03:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/succeedwithdyr.education\/?p=1889"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:03:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:03:44","slug":"affordable-college-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/succeedwithdyr.education\/index.php\/affordable-college-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Build a College List with Affordability in Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The goal of building balanced college list is ensuring you have realistic options to choose from once decisions come out. My background is in research, and I previously provided keyword expertise as a member of a database development team. Here&#8217;s how I approach the college list process to help you get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>REFLECT<\/strong>. Imagine you&#8217;re in college. What&#8217;s it like?&nbsp;Think about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Location &#8211; Do you want to be close to home? How will you get there? How comfortable would you be navigating air travel on your own?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Major &#8211; What major(s) might you be interested in?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Affordability &#8211; Student loan interest rates are at the highest they&#8217;ve been in 10-12 years. What can your family afford?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Academics &#8211; In the context of what your high school offers, where do you stand?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Special interests or services &#8211; Do you have a special talent (athletics, arts, activities) that you want to continue pursuing in college? Is there a cause you want to continue advocating for? Do you feel more comfortable with others &#8220;like me&#8221;? Do you require special services or accommodations?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Success &#8211; How do you define a successful college experience? How would you complete the sentence: College was such a great experience because I &#8230; ?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Figure out your <strong>COLLEGE BUDGET<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Add savings and gifts, amount that can be contributed from current income, and any scholarships *already* received in order to come up with an annual amount.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SEARCH<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>College Scorecard has average annual cost, average cost by family income range, and a link to each college&#8217;s <em>#NetPriceCalculator<\/em> that you can use for a closer estimate.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>AI may help with building a list, but can give inaccurate information. Check sources, and college websites, to confirm that each college has what you need to succeed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>For students who feel more comfortable with support, I mentor students through personal reflection, explain financial aid to students &amp; families, and guide students through the search process.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a more detailed guide, subscribe to my Substack, <a href=\"https:\/\/admissionstidbits.substack.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"no follow noreferrer noopener\">Admissions Tidbits<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>#CollegeAdmissions #CollegeList<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>#HowIHowTo Guide: Use College Scorecard to build a balanced college list with more affordable options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"%%post_excerpt%%","_seopress_robots_index":"","_eb_attr":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,1],"tags":[123,118,132],"class_list":["post-1889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-list-building","category-miscellaneous","tag-college-list-building","tag-free","tag-guide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/succeedwithdyr.education\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/succeedwithdyr.education\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/succeedwithdyr.education\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/succeedwithdyr.education\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/succeedwithdyr.education\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1889"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/succeedwithdyr.education\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1968,"href":"https:\/\/succeedwithdyr.education\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889\/revisions\/1968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/succeedwithdyr.education\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/succeedwithdyr.education\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/succeedwithdyr.education\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/succeedwithdyr.education\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}