College Affordability: An Insider’s Look

2013

Cyndy McDonald

© 2013 MyCCA.net - Unless otherwise noted

Webinar Series 1: Basics of Financial Aid

• Help families understand the financial aid process and where they fit in• Use MyCCA.net’s College Affordability Shaper to guide families towards

colleges with a financial fit, as a component of the “right” fit

2: College Affordability: An Insider’s Look• Learn more about how college structure financial incentives to students

using Strategic Enrollment Management practices• Understand how to utilize Competitive Student Quotient gauges in

building college affordability plans

3: Following the Money: Merit Scholarships & How to Find Them• Using the College Affordability Shaper, you can identify and position a

student for Merit and other scholarships• Offer a service that makes you stand out

Presenters/Contributors

Cyndy McDonald• Owner McDonald & Associates College

Consulting & My College Consultant Assistant (mycca.net)

• 22 years of experience• Nationally recognized as having expertise in this

area• Does training at national/regional level

Contributions from Michael Davila• Owner/Director College Inroads• attended US Naval Academy & taught there• Currently pursuing a master’s degree with emphasis on

Strategic Enrollment management at UT Austin

College Affordability

Open the mystery box of college funding for families

Help families make appropriate college choices, including college scholarships

Be proactive with families

• “What are your plans for paying for college?”

Not a Cookie Cutter Process

One size DOES NOT fit all people.

Families need to know how their family situation will fit into the financial aid process.

Introducing a new way to look at college affordability

Exponential Increase

Enrollment management contributes to process

Increases in merit awards has outpaced increases in need based awards

Merit scholarships offers are driven by Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) goals; supported by data

A Picture

is worth a

thousand

words…

(C) 2009 College Inroads, All rights reserved

What is Strategic Enrollment Management ?

(C) 2009 College Inroads, All rights reserved

Definition:

Enrollment Management is the strategic and

selective use of offers of financial aid to shape the

incoming freshman class in furtherance of the

institution’s goals. It is distinguished from the

allocation of financial aid based on student needs or

on academic merit.

What SEM does

(C) 2009 College Inroads, All rights reserved

Increases “net tuition revenue” streams• Increase “full pays” • Lower the discount rate• Increase the enrollment yield

Increases the academic profile of entering freshman class

Increases diversity

Increases retention

Can all of these be simultaneously achieved?

How to Enroll the Class You Want

(C) 2009 College Inroads, All rights reserved

What drives financial aid packaging?

“A student’s willingness to pay is the most important factor in determining the size of an aid package” Noel Levitz White Paper “Connecting Enrollment and Fiscal Management”

What is “willingness to pay” vs “ability to pay”?

Hint: Look at what the College Enrollment Managers look at! Table Analysis…

(C) 2009 College Inroads, All rights reserved

Quick Take

(C) 2009 College Inroads, All rights reserved

“Good luck getting any institution to tell you exactly

how they handle ability to pay as a driver in their

admit decision," said one enrollment manager

who requested anonymity. "What they will say is

'We're need-blind.' That's bull (expletive deleted).

They would never tell you exactly how they do it,

but they do it all the time.” Quirk, M. (2005, November ). The Best Class that Money Can Buy. Retrieved November 15, 2007, from

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200511/financial-aid-leveraging/4

(C) 2009 College Inroads, All rights reserved

Tai lor ing col lege aff ordabi l i ty to family needs

What’s My Flavor

College Affordability Shaper Categories

1. Introducing the concept of 3 affordability types based on Family EFC: High Need (Whole), Partial Need (Half-Half), and Merit (Skim)

2. Log in to look at Amy Awesome’s EFC calculations in the College Affordability Shaper

3. View strategies on College Affordability Shaper

1/2-1/2

Merit

Whole

Scholarship Fallacy

Q: Why do families look for outside scholarships?

A: To replace family contribution

Real A: Outside Scholarships are part of financial aid• Outside Scholarships DO NOT replace family contribution

Affordability strategy: Help families understand how

scholarships are actually used in college financing. Using the 3 categories

strategy will help.

Finding your flavor

1. Help families calculate their Estimated Family Contribution

2. Use the EFC to calculate their family flavor

• Use MyCCA.net’s College Affordability Shaper to calculate EFC.

Category Approximate EFC

Whole $11,000 & less

½- ½ $11,100-$30,000

Merit (Skim) $45,000+

Check out the resources for Net Price calculators and more on the Survey Module

Other possible factors

• Own business (under 100 employees) or farm with high expenses/medium income

• Home ownership or property ownership can create different EFC in FM & IM

• Special Circumstances not counted in FM

Tailoring affordability to each family’s situation

Log into College Affordability Shaper

Matching Affordability

Calculating EFC

Identifying Income Elements

Identifying Asset Elements

Finding a Financial Match

Use EFC Categories

Use EFC Strategies

Find and add Tagged Lists

Use Targeted Search

More lists to be added.

Education is life itself…

Advisor tip:• Adding affordability

to your practice is easy and beneficial

• Choose the level that is comfortable for you and start there.

Next Steps…

Watch a demo & see how MyCCA.net’s College Planning & Funding tools work together.

2/28 @ 10am PT/1pm ETEmail info@mycca.net to register

Try MyCCA.net for 30-days for free – zero obligation but all the resources to get started quickly!

Visit MyCCA.net & choose “Free 30-day Guest Account”

Next Webinar: Following the Money: Merit Scholarships & How to Find Them

Tuesday, Mar. 5th 1:00 pm EST

Understand how colleges structure merit awards

Learn about net price calculators and their limitations

Use MyCCA.net's College Affordability Shaper to help

you guide families towards the colleges that best

match their financial profile

Feel Free to Contact me:

Cyndy McDonald cyndy@mycca.net