Library college workshops -- for teens only?
The San Francisco Public Library offers regularly workshops for teens on the SAT and on college financial aid, listed under Teen Programs on the library's online calendar. (There are more entertaining programs too, such as knitting and autobiographical writing for teens.)
Sounds worth checking out. Although ... I'm not really onboard with the concept of aiming financial aid workshops exclusively at the student. I know there are high-schoolers who need to work the entire college process themselves, and they should get the first and the most assistance. But for teens whose parents are present, tuned in and competent, the family finances are still the adults' realm.
On that same topic, I note that the many online resources for choosing colleges and otherwise strategizing about admissions are also aimed at the student. If a parent wants to sign up, you basically have to represent yourself as your kid. The problem with leaving the parents out of the loop is that for most applicants, the parents' input — especially about the financial piece, as in, "Can we afford it?" — really is essential. The only applicants to whom that wouldn't apply, it seems to me, are kids so rich that money is not a factor in the choice, and kids whose parents are not able or willing to contribute and participate at all. There's a pretty wide swath in between.
I'm a little unclear on the concept there. I'll keep registering as my kid on college search sites and giving my own e-mail, I guess.
Sounds worth checking out. Although ... I'm not really onboard with the concept of aiming financial aid workshops exclusively at the student. I know there are high-schoolers who need to work the entire college process themselves, and they should get the first and the most assistance. But for teens whose parents are present, tuned in and competent, the family finances are still the adults' realm.
On that same topic, I note that the many online resources for choosing colleges and otherwise strategizing about admissions are also aimed at the student. If a parent wants to sign up, you basically have to represent yourself as your kid. The problem with leaving the parents out of the loop is that for most applicants, the parents' input — especially about the financial piece, as in, "Can we afford it?" — really is essential. The only applicants to whom that wouldn't apply, it seems to me, are kids so rich that money is not a factor in the choice, and kids whose parents are not able or willing to contribute and participate at all. There's a pretty wide swath in between.
I'm a little unclear on the concept there. I'll keep registering as my kid on college search sites and giving my own e-mail, I guess.
posted by caroline at
4:48 PM
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