College & Careers by Omaha World-Herald

COLLEGE & CAREERS Omaha World-Herald • Sept. 16, 2018

• Get the most out of your campus visit — talk to people. • Dorm or apartment living: Which is right for you?

Don’t mi Sunday’s ss next co fair at UN llege O

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• Sunday, September 16, 2018

COLLEGE & CAREERS

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

Next Sunday’s fair at UNO to feature more than 120 colleges C

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NEBRASKA

Air National Guard of Nebraska Bellevue University Bryan College of Health Sciences Capitol School of Hairstyling & Esthetics Central Community College — Columbus, Hastings, Grand Island Chadron State College CHI Health School of Radiologic Technology Clarkson College College of St. Mary Concordia University Creative Center, College of Art & Design Creighton University Crown College Doane University Hastings College Joseph’s College of Cosmetology La’ James International College Little Priest Tribal College Metropolitan Community College

Midland University National American University Nebraska Army National Guard Nebraska Christian College Nebraska Methodist College Nebraska Wesleyan University Northeast Community College Peru State College Southeast Community College — Beatrice, Lincoln, Milford Union College University of Nebraska at Kearney University of Nebraska at Omaha University of Nebraska at Omaha, Air Force ROTC University of Nebraska at Omaha, Army ROTC University of Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture University of Nebraska-Lincoln University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Air Force ROTC University of Nebraska Medical Center Wayne State College

Xenon Academy York College

ARIZONA

Grand Canyon University

COLORADO University of Denver University of North Colorado

CONNECTICUT U.S. Coast Guard Academy

ILLINOIS Augustana College Knox College Loyola University-Chicago

INDIANA Butler University University of Notre Dame

IOWA Briar Cliff College Buena Vista University Central College

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ollege-bound students can visit with representatives from more than 120 colleges during the Omaha Area College Fair. The fair is Sept. 23, from 1 to 4 p.m., at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Sapp Fieldhouse at 60th and Dodge Streets. Admission is free. Free parking is available in lots or garages. The college fair is sponsored by EducationQuest Foundation in partnership with Omaha-area school counselors and the Nebraska Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers. If you have questions about the college fair, contact Joan Jurek of EducationQuest at 888-357-6300 or visit EducationQuest.org. Follow these tips to make the most of your college fair visit. » Visit NebraskaCollegeFairs.org to register for a bar code you can print or download and take to the fair. College reps will scan the bar code to retrieve your demographic information so you won’t have to complete their information cards. » Study the list of participating colleges and determine which booths you want to visit. Arrive early so you have time to visit your top colleges. » Prepare questions to ask the college representatives. Ask about deadlines for admission, scholarship and financial aid applications, etc. » Attend a financial aid program to learn about types of aid and how to apply.

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COLLEGE & CAREERS

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

Coe College Cornell College Dordt College Drake University EQ School of Hair Design Graceland University Grinnell College Iowa State University Iowa Western Community College Morningside College Northwestern College Simpson College University of Iowa University of Northern Iowa Waldorf University Wartburg College Western Iowa Tech Community College

KANSAS Baker University Barton Community College Benedictine College Fort Hays State University Hesston College Kansas State University Kansas Wesleyan University

MidAmerica Nazarene University Northwest Kansas Technical College University of Kansas University of St. Mary Washburn University Wichita State University

MASSACHUSETTS Harvard University

MICHIGAN Hillsdale College

MINNESOTA Carlton College College of St. Benedict Gustavus Adolphus College Minnesota State University Southwest Minnesota State University St. John’s University St. Mary’s University St. Olaf College University of Minnesota-Rochester

Sunday, September 16, 2018 •

Drury University Maryville University Missouri University of Science and Technology Missouri Western State University Northwest Missouri State University Park University Rockhurst University Stephens College Truman State University University of Central Missouri University of Missouri-Kansas City University of Missouri-St. Louis William Jewel College William Woods University

SOUTH DAKOTA

NEW JERSEY

VIRGINIA

Seton Hall University

COLLEGE & CAREERS

Augustana University

A special section produced by the news division of the Omaha World-Herald.

Black Hills State University Dakota State University Dakota Wesleyan University Mount Marty College South Dakota School of Mines & Technology South Dakota State University University of Sioux Falls University of South Dakota

TEXAS

WISCONSIN

NORTH DAKOTA

Cover photo Noah Harrahill, right, leads a tour of Creighton University for Cody, Michael and Susan Ching. Photo by Chris Machian.

WYOMING

Lawrence University

North Dakota State University

MISSOURI

OKLAHOMA

Laramie County Community College

Columbia College

University of Tulsa

University of Wyoming

Experience a place where you matter.

Designer Kiley Cruse

Contributers Elizabeth Bauman, Jonathan Keeley, Melinda Keenan

Texas A&M University

Colgate University U.S. Military Academy

Project manager Shelley Larsen 402-444-1143 shelley.larsen@owh.com

Copy editors Chris Christen, Marjie Ducey

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Sunday, September 16, 2018 •

What some see as ‘helicopter parenting’ might just be a helping hand for your child in college By Jay Mathews

THE WASHINGTON POST

ndrea Rosenthal has a son at a university. She’s a supportive and experienced mom, no more than that. She rejects any suggestion that she’s a helicopter parent, a negative label for people who go too far to help their kids. But the mother from Fairfax County, Virginia, also knows a great deal about higher education and thinks college parents should not cut themselves off from what is happening. The advice she has been giving online to parents at the university her son attends is so good I want to share it, because it shows how parents can help their kids without overdoing it. About 3 million people started at U.S. colleges in the fall, one of the great challenges of their lives. Rosenthal’s suggestions are geared toward students majoring in STEM — science, technology, engineering and math. I never took such subjects in college except for a celestial navigation course that essentially required no work.

ROSENTHAL RECOMMENDS THAT STUDENTS: 1. Avoid drinking and video games. Those two habits combined with being away from home can be very distracting. 2. Don’t underestimate the time it takes to do well in math. There is a lot of self-teaching. The professor goes over the concept and presents a simple example, but the real learning comes when the student has to figure out the homework. ... Do the problem again and again until it is really understood so when the test comes and there is a variation in the problem, it is immediately recognized. 3. Do every homework problem, even the ungraded ones. 4. Realize that many exams are too long to complete in the time given. Get stuck on a question and you’re sunk. Practice doing the easy ones first, then going back to the harder ones. 5. Go to office hours for every professor early on whether you need help or not. When you do need help, it’s not the first time going. ... It’s a great way to develop relationships, so when an internship requires a recommendation, you have

someone to ask. 6. Don’t be so fast to drop a class at the first bombed exam. Students panic. Go to office hours and understand why the grade was low. ... One bad test doesn’t mean you will not pass the class. 7. Don’t miss the withdrawal date if there really is a disaster. 8. Don’t buy into “C’s get degrees.” They do not get internships. Some C’s are fine, but aim higher. 9. Remember that the semester is finite. Sometimes you have to skip something to focus on studies. 10. Be prepared for week 4 of school. Professors tend to give their first exams at the same time. 11. Eat well, sleep, wash hands, wipe down doorknobs. Dorms are a germ factory.

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AND FOR PARENTS SHE RECOMMENDS:

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Don’t fall for this kind of thinking: “He’s an adult now. You shouldn’t be involved in that. Fly, little birdie! He can learn only if he fails.” Nonsense. There are plenty of ways to learn besides failing. We all rely on each other. I remind my husband of things all the time, and he reminds me. ... If you want to remind, give advice, even nag a little, don’t let anyone else make you feel you shouldn’t. Trust your instincts.

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MY VIEW IS: Shunning video games and drinking may be too hard. But her recommendation to parents is very wise, even if controversial. It may sound as though she is defending helicopter parenting, but she doesn’t think so and neither do I. A 2007 study of 9,162 students by the National Survey of Student Engagement found that those whose parents were often in contact and frequently intervened on their behalf were more satisfied with their college experience and gained more in areas such as writing and critical thinking than other students. We ought to consider redefining helicopter parenting. As Rosenthal says, we all need help sometimes. What’s wrong with giving somebody, particularly your own child, a hand?

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COLLEGE & CAREERS

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? t n a w s e g e ll o c o d t a h W It’s hiding in plain sight hools that are more likely sc t ge tar u yo lp he n ca ta da Online us with financial aid to admit you and are genero

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The college application process can seem pretty mysterious to the uninitiated. But what colleges want from their applicants isn’t a secret. Schools telegraph what they’re after in the form of big data that’s available online to anyone. High school students can use that data to apply where they will be strong candidates, boosting their chances of admission and financial aid. Here’s how.

FIND YOUR BEST MATCH Each year, colleges supply reams of admission and financial aid statistics, known as the Common Data Set, to satisfy the demands of various education publishers, according to college consultant Lynn O’Shaughnessy. The information can be found by searching for the college’s name and the phrase “common data set,” or at college comparison sites such as CollegeData. Among other figures, the statistics for each school include: » The cost to attend. » How much student loan debt the average graduate incurs. » What percentage of applicants are accepted. •

» Average grades and test scores of incoming freshmen. At Stanford University, for example, 75 percent of incoming students for the 20162017 academic year scored 700 or above on the math portion of the SAT (the top score is 800), 94 percent had grade point averages above 3.75, and 95 percent ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class. Top-flight grades and scores don’t guarantee entrance into any selective school, of course. Stanford accepts just 5 percent of those who apply. But knowing the stats of the incoming class can help students eliminate long-shot choices and focus on schools where they’re more likely to gain admission.

TARGET THE SCHOOLS THAT WANT YOU Having grades and test scores that are above the school’s average can help with both odds of admission and financial aid packages, college consultants say. The best financial aid deals may come not from highly selective schools or large public universities but also from smaller liberal arts colleges that are trying harder to attract good applicants, says Vita Cohen, a college consultant in Chicago. “I tell students, ‘Please consider being the big fish in a smaller pond,’” Cohen says.

“Why wouldn’t you want to be at a place where they’re throwing rose petals at your feet?” Clues to how a school evaluates applicants can be found in the data set’s “admissions factors.” These detail how each school weighs 19 admissions criteria, from class rank to extracurricular activities. Many schools, for example, rate as “very important” the difficulty of the applicant’s high school courses and his or her academic grade point average. Some heavily weigh standardized tests; others don’t. “Level of applicant’s interest” is another differentiator. Colleges care about their “yield,” or the percentage of applicants who accept an offer of admission. Some want to see definite signs of interest from applicants, including campus visits and responding to emails from the admissions office.

NEED AID? AVOID UNGENEROUS SCHOOLS Most colleges don’t fully meet the financial need of their students, even after federal student loans are factored in. Families are expected to come up with the additional money on their own, often through parental or private student loans. The size of those gaps depends on the generosity of each school. The cost of attending New York Universi-

ty and the University of Southern California, for example, is roughly the same: about $72,000 a year. USC, however, fully met the financial need of 80.4 percent of freshmen who received financial aid. NYU fully met the financial need of 9.1 percent of its firstyear aid recipients. Families who don’t have financial need can get discounts from many schools in what’s known as “merit” aid. In general, merit aid is less likely at public and highly selective schools that can attract plenty of applicants without it. UCLA, for example, offered merit aid averaging $4,847 to just 2.6 percent of its freshmen. (UCLA’s cost of attendance is $31,916 for in-state residents and $59,930 for out-of-state students.) University of Puget Sound, a private liberal arts school in Tacoma, Washington, gave merit aid to 42.2 percent of its freshman, knocking an average $16,832 off its $63,510 cost of attendance. Each college has a “net price calculator” on its site to help applicants understand how much they’re likely to pay out of pocket annually. And costs matter. While a college degree is important, consultants warn students against overdosing on debt to get one. “You don’t want to be 22 or 23 and saddled with debt that’s going to cripple you,” Cohen says. •

By Liz Weston NERDWALLET.COM

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Explore the world from your own backyard A world-class education at an affordable price— that’s the promise of Iowa’s state universities.

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Above, Noah Harrahill, left, leads a tour of Creighton University for Cody, Michael and Susan Ching. At right, Cody looks around one of the dorms on campus. •

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Make the most of your college visit Don’t just look around; talk to people By Melinda Keenan WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Before the Internet, if students wanted information about a university beyond mailed brochures, they needed to go on a campus tour. Today, every school has a website with a wealth of information, and some even have videos of their campus and activities. So are visits even necessary anymore? Yes, says Joan Jurek, director of college planning for EducationQuest. She compares a campus visit to kicking the tires at a car dealership. “You’re not going to buy a car without a test drive.” There is a certain fit or comfort level the student must experience, she says. They need to ask themselves these questions as they tour a school: Can I picture myself in these classrooms? Can I study in this lab? Can I live in these residence halls? A tour has an intrinsic value that a website doesn’t offer. While on campus a student can talk with a professor about an area of study and seek out students — other than the tour guide — to get varying personal perspectives on the school. Check out the food in the cafeteria, the exercise facilities, the convenience of the nearby city and the size of the crowds walking across campus between classes. Will you be lost in a big university or feel limited in a small college? First and foremost, students must determine whether the school offers the academic area of their interests, Jurek says. How will students become a successful mechanic, engineer or accountant if the school doesn’t offer strong programs in those areas? Secondly, students and parents must decide whether the school is affordable. A visit to the financial aid office should be in order. “If they can go prepared with a list of questions,” Jurek says, “if they can do a bit of homework ahead of time, that would be helpful.” There are pros and cons to taking individual tours versus group tours. A one-on-one experience will be more personal and can address all of a student’s questions and requests. But a group tour with other prospective students

and parents will generate questions that just one student alone might not have considered. Bringing along parents or grandparents also will add different viewpoints. While many students take tours during their senior year of high school, Jurek says it’s better to start earlier. Because incoming freshmen begin applying for financial

aid the fall of their senior year, they should already have an idea where they are going to college. Waiting to make that choice until the end of their senior year can cost them grants, loans and even scholarships. “The more they do junior year, then they are ahead of the game senior year,” she says.

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Apartment or dorm living: Which is for you? Most students start out on campus, but many later consider other living options By Jonathan Keeley WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

KILEY CRUSE/THE WORLD-HERALD

University of Nebraska-Lincoln student Melisa Spilinek, right, and her roommate Mary Hope Mulcahy eat lunch in Cather dining hall. The two are seniors who have chosen to live in the dorms all through college.

LINCOLN — On campus or off? That question comes to the minds of many college students considering where to live. They must weigh whether to stay in a residence hall on campus or move into an apartment off campus. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, freshmen are required to live on campus unless they live in approved Greek housing or with a relative within a 30-mile radius, according to Brian Shanks, associate director for business operations for university housing. Shanks said 95 percent of UNL freshmen live on campus freshman year. He said living on campus is tied to academic success. “It is documented that GPAs and graduation rates are much higher if you live on campus versus off campus. And the longer you live on campus, the better you do,” Shanks said. As to why some students choose to leave after freshman year, he said he believes it’s because students look for lower cost options and more independence. For some, staying put for the rest of their college career makes the most sense. Carissa Soukup, who graduated in May, decided to live on campus all four years. Living on campus “is so convenient, and I feel I’ve made more genuine connections with people by living in the dorms. It forced me to get out more and be more social,” Soukup said. The convenience of being able to eat at the university dining halls and being able to wake up and walk to class are why Melisa Spilinek, a senior fashion design and merchandising major, has chosen to live on campus her entire time at the university. The variety of food in the dining halls is a bonus, Spilinek said. “If I cooked for myself, I’d just eat pasta every day,” she said. “Last week, they had Fiji Apple Cider See Housing: Page 13

UNL senior Melisa Spilinek dishes up lunch. The variety of food in the dining halls is one thing Spilinek likes. “If I cooked for myself, I’d just eat pasta every day.”

Meal plan, type of housing affect students’ costs Meal plans at colleges vary. At UNL, meal plans for the 2018-19 school year include: » An all-access plan for unlimited dining for $4,450 a year. All freshmen living on campus must have this plan, and it’s optional for upperclassmen. » A 440-meal plan option costing $3,400 for sophomores and above. » A 250-meal plan option costing $2,400 for juniors and seniors.

A sampling of annual room and board costs for UNL students. Note that costs vary widely depending on type of housing, how many students to a room and the type of meal plan. » Traditional non-break housing at UNL for a regular two-person room plus a full-access meal plan would cost $11,430. » A suite-style hall with two bedrooms of two students each with a 250-meal plan would cost a student $9,980. » An apartment-style hall on campus for four students would cost each student $7,880 if there was no meal plan.

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Apartment or dorm living: Which is for you? Most students start out on campus, but many later consider other living options By Jonathan Keeley WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

KILEY CRUSE/THE WORLD-HERALD

UNL senior Melisa Spilinek dishes up lunch. The variety of food in the dining halls is one thing Spilinek likes. “If I cooked for myself, I’d just eat pasta every day.”

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Housing: Dorms, apartments each have selling points for college students

Pros and cons of dorm, apartment living

Continued from Page 11

LIVING ON CAMPUS

LIVING IN AN APARTMENT

Pros Short walks to classes. Dining halls nearby. No need for transportation to get to classes and campus activities. No worries about commuting in the winter. Resources, such as the health center, are nearby. If you have group projects, you can just walk to the library. Furniture provided.

Pros More freedom, compared to some dorms, to come and go as you please or have visitors. Could be closer to downtown or other city hot spots. Possible amenities such as hot tub, pool and-or exercise room.

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entertainment, so you never really have to drive anywhere,” Lewis said. “The building offers a nice gym, study space, rooftop kitchen, grills and a coffee bar.” When comparing his apartment to when he lived on campus, he said that living downtown was more appealing. Canopy Lofts is located at 601 R St., across the street from Pinnacle Bank Arena and the Railyard, an entertainment district. While being close to the nightlife and within walking distance to campus was nice, Lewis said being so close to the arena had its drawbacks, especially where parking was concerned. “Parking can be a real pain in the butt when it comes to events because you’ll be waiting in line for 30 minutes just to get in the garage you pay $70-plus a month to park in and you don’t have your own spot,” Lewis said. World-Herald staff writer Kiley Cruse contributed to this report.

Cons When looking for housing after college, you won’t have had the experience of living on your own. When friends move off campus, it makes it harder to see them. Less freedom and independence. Costs might be higher than apartment living. Might prefer living in a different part of the city than where campus is located.

Cons Might need to drive to campus or take public transportation. Parking on campus might be difficult and might need to be done more than once a day; fees to park as well. Leases might lock you into staying in the apartment through the summer. Might need to buy furniture if the apartment is unfurnished. Need to cook own meals or eat at restaurants. — Jonathan Keeley

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Chicken. It was really good, and that’s not something I would make for myself.” While the cost of housing at UNL increased 3.5 percent this year, Shanks said, the cost of living on campus decreased after the school added two new lower-cost meal-plan options. The university also offers three living options: traditional, suite-style and apartment-style halls. Spilinek lived in a traditional dorm her first year and has been in an apartment-style dorm the past three years. If UNL didn’t have apartment-style dorms, it would have been a game changer, Spilinek said. “I didn’t like freshman year when my only option was a microwave.” The apartment-style dorms have full kitchens so students can cook if they want, and Spilinek said it’s great over breaks when she stays to work and the dining halls are closed.

Shanks said this year UNL offered sign-up incentives to compete with the incentives that off-campus housing properties offer students. He said students were put into drawings for football tickets, headphones and free parking. Students have plenty of off-campus housing options to choose from as well with seven major complexes nearby the university’s city campus. Each apartment complex offers something a little different from the other. Zach Lewis, a former construction management major who graduated in August, lived at Canopy Lofts for two years after living on campus for two years. Lewis lived with three roommates and paid $575 a month for rent while also paying $15 a month for electricity and $63 a month for parking. One of the advantages for Lewis was being able to live downtown and enjoy all the amenities that come with it. “It is close to restaurants and

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Filling out the FAFSA Myths dispelled, here’s what you need to know By Melinda Keenan WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

How are you going to pay for college? Start with FAFSA — the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Go to fafsa.ed.gov, EducationQuest.org or the financial aid office at your chosen school to ask questions and get started. Here are a few commonly heard statements about FAFSA. Marty Habrock, director of financial support and scholarship at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, weighs in on what’s true and what’s false.

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website. The federal government has streamlined the process, and now it takes about 30 minutes, if you have all the proper documentation at hand. One convenience is a button on the form that will transfer all tax data from the IRS instantly to the FAFSA form, so there is no typing involved and less chance of making a mistake. Filling out the form takes time, but if you qualify for a grant, loan or scholarship, then it is worth it. Only low- to moderate-income students should file a FAFSA. FALSE. There is no income cut-off. Many times the perception is: “My friend applied and didn’t get anything so we won’t either.” While FAFSA is used primarily to determine financial need and award federal grants, work-study and loans, it is also used by schools to award institutional aid and by many private programs to award scholarships. So even if students don’t qualify for need-based aid from the federal government, they may qualify for other funding. My parents won’t fill out a FAFSA, so I am just out of luck. TRUE. Students who are dependents on their parents’ tax filing — as are most undergraduates — are not eligible for aid unless their parents file a FAFSA. Schools need parents’ tax return information to determine whether the student qualifies for funds. While financial aid departments will try to work with students who have special circumstances, having parents who just refuse to fill out a FAFSA is not one of them. Students who are not dependents on their parents’

tax returns do not need parent financial information. Those students might be at least 24 years old, possibly married, pursuing a master’s or doctorate degree, be a veteran or serving on active duty, or have their own children to support. My eligibility for government grants and loans is not based solely on my parents’ income. TRUE. The federal methodology in determining qualifications also takes into account such factors as the size of the family, other siblings in college and family assets. Fill out FAFSA immediately because the money runs out. If you snooze, you lose. GENERALLY TRUE. Pell grants and Stafford loans are always available, even if someone is late to apply. But many types of state and institutional aid is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Private scholarships are also determined early. Every school has a FAFSA deadline; contact your chosen college or university for the date. In general, here is a timeline that you should follow if you plan to enter a college or university in fall 2019: Now — Create a list of colleges and universities you might attend. You can request on your FAFSA form for the government to send your financial information to as many as 10 schools. Seek out scholarship opportunities and be aware of their deadlines. A student might consider creating an email account that is not connect-

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ed to the high school or a parent. It would be used for correspondence with FAFSA, any college or university the student might attend, or any scholarship programs. Also, go to the FAFSA website and create a FAFSA identification. Parents and students need to do this separately and prior to actually filling out the FAFSA form. It will take a few days for the government to process the identification, so do it early so you have it. Oct. 1 — Opening day of the FAFSA application process for the 2019-20 school year. Fill out your form as soon as possible. Two common errors: Parents forget to sign their form. And parents who fill out their child’s form sometimes incorrectly type in their own information rather than the student’s. After October — The student should check email often for correspondence from FAFSA, schools and scholarship programs. Additional documentation may be needed for processing. Begin applying for schools. December — Colleges and universities begin to award financial aid packages. Compare and contrast offers of financial aid along with tuition and housing costs at each school to determine your best options. December through March — Be aware of your college’s deadlines. Have all paperwork submitted to get the best financial aid possible from your chosen school. June — Make sure your high school counselor knows where you are going to school in the fall. Final high school transcripts will be sent from your high school to your college.

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WITH A LITTLE BIT OF EFFORT, YOU’LL MAKE FRIENDS IN NO TIME By Elizabeth Bauman //

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

You have your plush comforter, shower shoes and Command strips and are as ready as can be. But friends? That’s one area in which you might feel a little less prepared. If the thought of making friends makes you want to cry in a corner or persuade your mom to get another degree so she can be your campus bestie, you’re not alone. Here is some advice on how to make friends as a freshman.

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High school: Missouri Valley (Iowa) High School College and year: Iowa Western Community College, Council Bluffs; junior Major: criminal justice Try to be involved with different aspects of college life. Join small groups or clubs and go to events. If you live in the dorms, there are a lot of people who will be doing activities around the dorm areas. Ask if you can join. The best way to find people who are like you and have the same interests is by finding a group or club to which you can relate. It may be a little nerve-racking at first, but it will be well worth it once you find these friends.

Nick Bernhagen High school: Pella (Iowa) High School College and year: Northwestern College, Orange City, Iowa; sophomore Major: business administration-finance, pre-physical therapy Join clubs or intramural teams, especially in an area that’s new to you. Don’t be too quick to limit who you hang out with. At the same time, don’t over-involve yourself. As you get to know more people, be intentional about pursuing just a few of those relationships so that you can really start to develop deep friendships. Having a bunch of friends is great, but it’s the few close relationships you form that will stick with you after college and have the greatest impact.

Allegra Blomenberg High school: Lutheran High Northeast, Norfolk, Nebraska College and year: University of Nebraska-Lincoln; senior Major: nutrition science Go to activities with people who live in your residence hall. It only takes a little bit of courage to walk up to your neighbor’s door and ask if they would like to go with you. Leaving your door open gives people the opportunity to approach you more easily, too. Some of my closest friends came through volunteering and a class, both my freshman year. The point is to simply put yourself out there a little bit, because it ends up being totally worth it.

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High school: Leilehua High School, Wahiawa, Hawaii College and year: Midland University, Fremont, Nebraska; senior Major: exercise science Embrace the idea of meeting people. It’s hard for someone to enter a new environment. In my experience, it was a culture shock coming from the white sandy beaches of Hawaii to the cornfields of Nebraska. Because it was difficult being away from family, I didn’t open up much, but college is made up of a lot of people who come from all over. Once you open up, you feel like you have your own little family that you found by yourself. Having to deal with that awkward and uncomfortable start to college life is totally worth the bonds and friendships that come with it.

Carley Fulcher High school: Winterset (Iowa) High School College and year: Iowa State University, Ames; senior Major: civil engineering (undergraduate) and business administration (graduate) Overall, be open to new activities. New places and things mean new people to meet. Every university has some sort of free entertainment one night a week or every other weekend. Go decorate a mug with your friends and play bingo. You can also try leaving your dorm room door open when you’re there during the day; people are bound to pop their head in if they like the show you’re watching or the music you’re listening to.

Joel Kazhila High school: Mission Heights Prep School, Casa Grande, Arizona College and year: University of Nebraska at Omaha; senior Major: business administration Make the most of your time at the university. No matter what happens throughout your college career, always choose to be a good person and surround yourself with those kinds of friends. Lift people up and encourage others. This attitude makes it more fun for others to be around you. It brings more joy to their life and your own, as well.

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Spencer VanBuskirk High school: Omaha North High School College and year: UNO; junior Major: criminology and criminal justice Outside of my scholarship community, I challenged myself to become involved. To achieve this, I introduced myself to staff and faculty members. Remember that friends don’t have to be the same age as you. I made “friends” of professors, advisers and secretarial staff. Try not to create an “ideal friend” in your mind because you’ll miss out on the real friends who are right in front of you. Be your absolutely true self because you’ll cheat your friends out of experiencing the true and awesome you.

High school: Twin River High School, Genoa, Nebraska College and year: Northeast Community College, Norfolk, Nebraska; third-year student Major: business administration Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and be yourself! Take advantage of all the events that the college has to offer. You’ll meet a ton of new people, which can lead to friendships. Be yourself. Get involved in campus leadership! After becoming one of the top leaders in the residence halls, I can tell you that the relationships I’ve made here will last for many, many years.

Javan White

Sara Trojan

High school: Ames (Iowa) High School College and year: Graduated from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and began graduate school at Clemson (South Carolina) University in 2018 Major: sports management (undergraduate), athletic leadership (graduate) Join clubs that interest you because it will connect you to others with common interests. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people in your classes early on because they are looking for friends, as well. The student section of athletic events is literally a section full of friendly students who are super passionate about their school teams. All in all, be confident and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and try new things. Go to different events and enjoy every second, because you only get to do college once and it’s better with friends to share the experience.

High school: Milford Jr/Sr High School College and year: University of Nebraska at Kearney; senior Major: business administration Get involved! If there’s a club or an event that seems interesting, go. You can meet some rad people and maybe get some free food. It’s uncomfortable being the new kid, but we’ve all been there. You never know who you can meet through joining an organization or going to an event. If you get asked to go somewhere or do something with people you aren’t super close to yet, just give it a try ... You’ll never meet new people or build friendships if you don’t take the chance to say yes to something new.

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Tips for how to pay back student loans qualify for public service loan forgiveness, be careful about consolidation, Cheng said, pointing to www.IBRinfo.org for more information. Most experts advise against consolidating federal loans with private ones into one large private loan, because even if you can get a lower interest rate, you lose the attractive repayment and other options on federal loans providing protection if you run into financial trouble.

By Marilyn Kennedy Melia CTW FEATURES

Congratulations. You’ve earned that degree, and now will put it to good use. Exciting years are ahead. Oh, except, those student loans are no longer a far-off future concern. Naturally, you’d like to keep putting off the day of reckoning. Fight that impulse and take a slow, deliberate look at your loans, experts advise. Knowledge of your rights and options greatly increase the odds that your payback will go smoothly — and more quickly — than if you stumble into trouble you could have avoided. So here’s a primer on what to know for a more painless payback.

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termine the right repayment plan, Kennedy said. “At the end of the grace period,” said Diane Cheng of the Institute for College Access and Success, “you are placed in a payment plan.” Unless you deliberately indicate that you want a specific plan, the standard plan is the default option. If you don’t have a job at the end of the grace period, Cheng suggests designating an income-driven plan where “your payment will be a percent of your income … which is zero (until you are employed).” You can switch plans in the future, Kennedy said.

estimate if the standard repayment seems manageable on your income. “If total debt at graduation is less than your annual starting salary, you should be able to repay your (federal) student loans in 10 years or less,” said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of www.privatestudentloans. guru. If you’re one of the about 12 percent of undergrad students who also borrowed private loans from lending firms (federal loans are extended by your school), you’ll have to add in the cost of those private loans. Should the standard payment on your federal loans seem unmanageable, there are other options, such as “income-based” repayment, that gauge what’s owed based on your monthly income, but stretch the term past 10 years. A school loan counselor can help you de-

BUNDLE LOANS TOGETHER … OR NOT If you borrowed each year, you’ll have different federal loans, and if you transferred schools and borrowed, you might have different “servicers,” or organizations that bill and collect your payments, Kennedy said. However, “in the last few years, the Department of Education has been trying to curb (multiple) servicers,” Cheng said. For simplicity, it’s possible to consolidate several federal loans into one. The interest rate on a consolidated loan is the weighted average of the rates of each loan in the bundle, rounded up to the nearest one-eighth of a percent, Kantrowitz said. The advantage to separate loans, though, is if the interest rate on one is higher than the others, when you have extra funds you can prepay the higher-cost loan, Kantrowitz said. And if you’re thinking you might

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TALK ABOUT TROUBLE AND ANYTHING ELSE Any time you lose your job, or otherwise can’t keep up your payments, call your loan servicer as soon as possible, Cheng said. Deferments, where payments are postponed without accruing interest, and forbearance, which provides a payment break with interest still accumulating, are other options. Attempt to resolve any problem or question with a servicer early, and not only with a call. “It’s best to document everything in a written letter and to keep a photocopy,” Kantrowitz said. If you have a complaint with a servicer that you can’t resolve, use feedback. studentaid.ed.gov, which is run by the U.S. Department of Education, Cheng said.

PAY MORE WHEN YOU CAN When extra money falls into your hands — you’re paid a bonus, for example — you might want to consider pre-payment to whittle down the years you’ll be paying student loans. Experts advise keeping emergency savings, however. When you have funds to tap for emergencies, all federal loans allow prepayment without penalty, Cheng said. Private lenders each have their own rules. “Include a letter that specifies the loan ID number and say to apply the extra payment to the principal balance of the loan and to not treat it as an early payment of the next installment, “ Kantrowitz said.

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All schools must have their graduating students go through exit counseling if they have federal students loans. “It could be in-person counseling or electronic,” said James Kennedy of Indiana University. Some graduating students will be surprised at the total if their school didn’t do yearly counseling, said Holly Morrow of the non-profit uAspire. With one of the two types of federal loans, the Perkins, extended based upon a student’s financial need, payments don’t begin until after a nine-month grace period following graduation. With the other, Stafford loans, there’s a six month post-graduation grace period. In exit counseling, you’ll be directed to visit government websites such as www. studentaid.gov, www.studentloans.gov or the National Student Loan Data System (www.nslds.ed.gov), where you can see account information for each loan.

To ensure that you pay promptly, avoiding dings to your credit and late fees, it’s best to direct that bills are automatically deducted from your banking account. In fact, it’s common to be offered a .25 percent discount on the rate for automated payments. It also might be possible to set up one payment even if you haven’t consolidated multiple federal loans, Cheng said. “Some private lenders offer discounts — .25 or .50 off the rate — as an incentive for borrowers to sign up for auto-debit and electronic billing,” Kantrowitz said.

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Be a showoff: Why you need a digital portfolio By Darci Swisher CTW FEATURES

The days of choosing the perfect shade of ivory heavyweight paper for your resume, then mailing it off in a matching envelope on a wing and prayer, are gone. In today’s electronic world, jobseekers impress through digital portfolios, not paper stock. “Finding ways to show how you can do the work, and what you’ve done in the past, if possible, is always preferred versus talking about it or the dry resume,” said Greg Ambrose, co-founder and CEO of Stack Talent, a candidate search firm in Chicago. For Cesar Rodriguez, a graphic designer in Chicago, an online portfolio is essential for finding a job. “If you don’t have a website, especially as a graphic designer, you’re toast,” he said. Rodriguez has even referred to it during interviews, bringing out his laptop to showcase his work. But digital portfolios are applicable to more than creative fields such as graphic design and photography. They can be helpful to anyone searching for a job, especially those seeking a career change or who have limited professional experience, said Dana

“You can be as creative as you want without any technical skill. You don’t even have to create your own domain, although it’s not a bad idea.” Greg Ambrose, co-founder and CEO of Stack Talent

Leavy-Detrick, founder of New York-based Brooklyn Resume Studio. “You can have, obviously, the resume, the cover letter, the LinkedIn profile,” she said. “But when you see someone who’s put a lot of thought into their digital presence, and it’s consistent across different platforms, I think that really shows a lot of effort and a lot of integrity as well.” There are a few must-haves for digital portfolios, Leavy-Detrick said. Top on her list: A bio. A couple of well-thought out paragraphs can provide more insight into the jobseeker as a person, in a way that’s not possible on a resume or even a LinkedIn profile, she said. “It gives a little bit more of a look for employers, of who a candidate is, what’s important to them, their personality,” she said.

The bio is valuable real estate for those looking to transition to a new career, as they can talk about their reasons for the change, Leavy-Detrick said. Also important are work samples that showcase skills or side projects; a webbased resume, perhaps available for prospective employers to download as a PDF; and a contact page with an email address, a phone number or a form to fill out. Leavy-Detrick says to add a photo and links to personal social media pages — LinkedIn as well as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — only if their content is appropriate. There are websites and online tools for building portfolios galore, and many have user-friendly templates for creating a static page or basic website, Leavy-Detrick said. She suggests checking out About.me or SquareSpace.

“You can be as creative as you want without any technical skill,” Ambrose said. “You don’t even have to create your own domain, although it’s not a bad idea.” As a freelance data journalist, Sabrina Karl is always seeking work. Karl sprung for a professional account with JournoPortfolio.com, so she could use the domain name she purchased. “My work being a visual medium definitely drove my desire to create an online gallery-style portfolio,” said Karl, who is based in Madison, Wisconsin. “Since I want to demonstrate I’m skilled in telling numeric stories with visuals that engage readers more than stories based on words alone, my portfolio clearly needs to show that with images, not tell it with words.” Karl includes a link to her digital portfolio in her email signature and references it in emails seeking work. She also tracks hits using Google Analytics. She spent around 30 hours putting her website together, and then more time rejiggering how she presented her work samples a few months later. “Nowadays, though, it’s not much work,” she said. “Since my design is set, I just need to prep each new graphic I want to include.”

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What to expect freshman year Take these steps so college doesn’t seem overwhelming. EducationQuest Be prepared to make some adjustments during your freshman year of college — especially in the first semester. Here are some challenges you may face:

FEELING OUT OF PLACE AND LONELY When you get to college, you may find it difficult to stay close to your high school friends because they no longer share your experiences. You also might get homesick. To gain a sense of belonging, attend freshman orientation activities, get involved in extracurricular activities and find a parttime job. Don’t wait for opportunities and people to come to you. Staying busy and meeting new people will make your college experience more enjoyable.

HAVING LESS STRUCTURE You’ll go to bed and get up later. You’re in class for only three to four hours each day, and those hours are often staggered rather than back-to-back. You’ll think you have plenty of time to study and will have

an urge to procrastinate. Instead, use the time between classes to review notes and study, and get plenty of sleep each night.

READING MORE Talk to current college students and they’ll tell you the reading is “huge!” To avoid becoming overwhelmed, set small goals (10 pages at a time) and take short, periodic breaks.

STUDYING You’re going to have to study — even if you got by without studying in high school. Develop study strategies early on so you don’t feel overwhelmed when that first test comes around. Get assignments done in the order they’re due, find a study spot where you can focus and take notes while reading to retain the information.

GAINING WEIGHT You’ve probably heard people complain about dorm food. But eating in the dining halls is convenient, and the food is plentiful and usually pretty tasty. Combine this with a more sedentary lifestyle than in high school, and it’s no surprise that many students gain weight their first semester.

To combat this, choose healthy options at dining halls, avoid late-night eating and sugary snacks ,and use your college’s recreation center.

GETTING YOUR GRADES “Wow, what happened?” Many freshmen ask that question when they get their first set of grades. Your professor will give you a syllabus at the beginning of the class. It’s up to you to follow it. You won’t get reminders about due dates for reading assignments or term papers. Keep track of due dates, talk to professors or a tutor when you’re struggling, and talk to your academic adviser to make sure you’re on track with your class schedule.

FEELING OVERWHELMED All these changes can be overwhelming. You’ll feel pressured to make new friends right away, decide what you want to do with the rest of your life and keep track of day-to-day assignments all at once. You don’t need to have all the answers immediately upon entering college. There are resources all over campus that will help you make your college experience fun, successful and rewarding.

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