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~ Monday, November 14 ~
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Job or Extra-curricular: which pays better?

When determining whom to admit and at what price, colleges primarily consider the Big Three: grades, scores, and one extra-curricular skill.  Merit-based scholarships are the product of true achievement in these three areas.  For example, Nebraska Wesleyan gives students $5500 per year for a 22 on the ACT, about $1500 more per year for every additional 3 points on the ACT, and more money for other attributes, such as good citizenship and extra-curricular skills.  Dordt College in Iowa, an excellent protestant-leaning liberal arts school, offers up to $5000 a year for an extracurricular skill.  Colleges need band musicians, orchestra musicians, actors, lighting directors, singers, volunteers, school leaders, jocks, debate and speech studs, journalists, and other students with other skills.  College-level athletic skill typically results in more lucrative scholarships than expert violin skill, but non-athletic extra-curricular skills definitely can result in better admissions options and better financial aid.  When compared to the paltry after-tax hourly income of your average high school worker, scholarships based on extra-curricular skills, scores, and grades don’t have to be very large to exceed what the student can save.

 

Further, more scholarship money typically can be won by tenaciously chasing privately-offered scholarships through your own high school’s counseling web site, EducationQuest.org, and FastAid.com.  And just as in-state and out-of-state colleges covet rural Nebraska students— companies, associations, and service clubs want to award money to rural Nebraska students.  Again the Big Three will help in these efforts, but this privately-offered money is also chasing future farmers, engineers, nurses, teachers, and other students with other sought-after interests and expertise.  With the help of a parent, seniors— over Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations and early this spring semester— should be able to apply for 20 to 80 of these privately-offered scholarships, earning typically much more than what can be earned during a similar number of hours at a job.  One secret: be sure to apply also for small dollar awards because the competition is less.  Don’t shun those $250 awards because they can add up.

 

Finally, too much student savings might jeopardize eligibility for need-based aid.  The FAFSA considers 25% of a student’s own net worth to be available for school costs, raising the family’s Expected Family Contribution accordingly.  Thus, every $5000 saved by the student potentially reduces a possible financial aid offer by about 25% or $1250.  Also there is a lot of scholarship money chasing low income families in this state: the Susie Buffett Scholarship, the Goodrich Scholarship, CollegeBoundNebraska, etc…  If a student qualifies for free and reduced lunch, he may also qualify for these especially generous need-based scholarships.  Such students should make sure that there own hard-earned income does not inadvertently cause the family’s resources to increase to the point that he is no longer eligible for Nebraska’s scholarships targeting low-income students. Frankly, if you’re low income, you’re possibly in the best state in the country for attaining an affordable college degree.  By saving too much money, a student may no longer qualify as low income.

 

I’m all for having a job during vacations and on weekends because high school labor usually motivates students to work harder in school, the true bridge to better future economic opportunity.  Of course, if that job is helping to feed the siblings or pay the family’s mortgage, the family’s immediate need for money makes all the above less relevant.  These students may not have the luxury to work less during the school week so as to maximize grades, scores, one extra-curricular, and scholarships later. Still these students should try to achieve at the Big Three and explain in the college application that a 20-plus hour a week job during the school months was required to support the family.  

 

Bottom line: the route to the best college at the lowest cost consists of rigorous classes and extra-curriculars, which combined with ACT preparation should lead to a solid ACT score.  Marketing that skill— a resume and 90-second video attached to an email destined for coaches, orchestra directors, or drama departments— will help ensure that your foremost extra-curricular skill is rewarded with scholarships.  Having a job on weekends and vacations should not compromise the Big Three: GPA, ACT score, and one extracurricular.  Working a job during the school week will compromise the Big Three— and perhaps your eligibility for need-based aid as well.


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