Searching for a college

College Results Online http://www.collegeresults.org/

The only site where you can search for colleges based on their four year graduation rate, student expenditures, faculty expenditures, percentage of students in Science and Engineering, and percentage full-time students. It will also compare it to 15 of its peers.

College Navigator http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/

This site will give you the most comprehensive overview of a college. This includes costs, financial aid, admission rates, test scores, graduation rates, degrees awarded, athletic teams, and crime statistics. Check here to see if a college even has a baseball team and then number of players it carries.

This site provides information about average student debt, the number of students with federal loans, along with graduation rate information. This site includes two year as well as four year schools.  Kiplinger is another site with cost information. http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/

Peterson’s College Guide http://www.petersons.com

Not a good site for generating lists of colleges but provides good information on individual colleges including percentage of students with test scores, average financial aid information, and endowment size. It does not provide graduation rates.

Books

The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price by Lynn O’Shaughnessy

If you only get one book, this is it.

Colleges that Change Lives by Loren Pope

Great book to start thinking about what you actually want out of a college.

Private versus Public Schools

It may actually be cheaper for you to attend a private school. With the exception of the most competitive schools (Rice and UT Austin in Texas) give merit aid and all provide some financial aid. The amount of aid at private schools is significantly higher than at public schools. You will increase the amount of merit aid by applying to schools where the middle 50 percentile of test scores is below yours.   Also consider the amount of time it will take to graduate from a school. Most schools are reporting their graduation rate as the number of students who graduate in six years rather than four. In Texas, there are only seven schools that have a four year graduation rate of over 50%: Rice, Austin College, Trinity, Southwestern University, SMU, University of Dallas, and TCU. One financial aid tip: don’t put any college money aside in the student’s name. Have it in the parent’s name so that it will count for the parental contribution. Otherwise, they will assume all the money will go to college expenditures and still expect a parental contribution.

Baseball Scholarships

Chances of getting a baseball scholarship are slim to none. Less than 5 % of those who play high school baseball play college ball.  A college baseball team has less than 12 scholarships for the entire team which may carry anywhere from 30 to 50 players. Most players receive only ¼ to ½ scholarships so the coach can spread out the number of scholarships awarded.  Playing high school baseball is more likely to help a player receive a merit scholarship rather than a baseball scholarship. Colleges consider participation in high school athletics as signs of commitment, maturity, and discipline.

If you are considering playing at a D1 or D2 school, you will need to register with the NCAA Eligibility Center at www.eligibilitycenter.org. Probably the most important issue for homeschoolers is to make sure that on the transcript you use titles for courses that the NCAA approves.  Look under High School Administration and list of approved courses.  You must have an acceptable ACT or SAT score to be eligible.

College Testing

You should take the ACT or SAT in your junior year, preferably not during baseball season. Taking it your junior year allows you to retake it as a senior if your scores are not high enough. You should consider taking both exams since some people will do better on one than the other. Practicing for the test helps! You can practice for free at www.number2.com. The price of a test practice guide is a good investment.

An Incomplete Listing of Texas Colleges

 Remember that these numbers are averages. Depending on your family situation, the financial aid numbers could be very different. Also, the college’s perception of your need requirements may not be the same as yours. 

 Average Debt of Graduates from Texas Four Year Universities

Private: $ 25,066
Public:  $ 17,894