Tips for students preparing for college

(FOX Providence) - This is the beginning of a busy time of year for high-school seniors who are planning to go to college.

Time for visiting schools, gathering admissions and financial aid forms, attending college fairs and financial aid nights. It’s important for students to know all the deadlines and to understand what is expected of them in the process of applying for college.

Peter Kerwin from the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority has tips on how to make sure students and families are on the right track.

What should college-bound students be doing now?

By this point in the process, high school seniors should have an idea of the colleges where they want to apply. The first step is to log onto the websites of those schools and review the admissions requirements, application deadlines, and financial aid procedures and deadlines. From there, you want to start getting your letters of recommendation and working on your college essay.

This is also the time to start getting organized with regard to financial aid. Start researching scholarships offered by organizations in your community and throughout the state. Some private scholarships have early deadlines, so now is the time to start identifying what’s out there for you to apply for.

In regard to financial aid, look at grant and loan programs offered by the state and federal government to see if you can apply—there’s the Rhode Island State Grant Program, the CollegeBoundfund’s Academic Promise Scholarship, federal Stafford Loans and PLUS loans. If you meet the eligibility requirements, start putting together the information you are going to need to apply.

What are some of the resources out there for students to use?

RIHEAA has a website with a great deal of information about scholarships, loans and grants. It’s at www.riheaa.org. The College Planning Center of Rhode Island offers one-on-one counseling. Their staff can guide you through the admissions and financial aid process. They’ve got locations in Warwick and Bristol and their website is www.cpcri.org .

There’s www.rischolarships.com where you can search scholarships offered by Rhode Island based organizations. And there’s a great college search tool on the waytogoRI.org website to find schools which offer degree programs in the academic areas students are interested in.

The key is to be organized and know your deadlines. I remember how crazy your senior year of high school can be, so the more you get ahead of the curve and prepare yourself for all the paperwork that has to be done, the better off you will be. This is a really important time and the decisions being made now are going to have a significant impact on your life for many years to come—so take the time to get it right.