College Planning High School Timeline
The College Planning Timeline: How and When to Crucial College Planning Milestones
When is the right time to start planning for college?
For parents of soon-to-be-college-bound students, there might be no question more common than this one. The college planning process has gotten so complex and multi-faceted—spanning everything from grades to test scores to financial strategy—that the entire thing just seems daunting and unapproachable. Especially if you are preparing to launch the college planning process for your first child and haven’t done it before, it’s easy to feel like there’s no obvious place to start. To help you along, and to give you a roadmap to follow throughout the coming months and years, we’ve prepared this basic college planning timeline.
Before High School
We know what you’re thinking: “Wait; I have to start thinking about college for my kid before he or she even starts high school?!”
Well, yes and no.
On the one hand, no actual college planning needs to happen during the elementary and middle school years. Students in these age groups are probably just finding their interests and academic strengths. They might be taking their first steps into sports or activities that will become major passions in high school. No one is asking them to start picking out colleges or laying out potential paths of study.
With that said, there are two very important foundational things that can happen in the pre-high-school years that will make everything on this timeline easier.
First, if you are able, start a college fund for your son or daughter. Putting money aside for your child’s future education will reduce the burden that they take on to go to college. As the cost of higher education continues to escalate—and as the average student loan debt skyrockets—this consideration is important. Students that can graduate from college with no debt or very little debt are already several steps ahead of most of their contemporaries, and help from parents or family members is the number one factor that can allow this to happen. There are several savings options that are good for college funds, from regular savings accounts to Roth IRAs, all the way to 529 college savings plans. Look into each option with your financial advisor and try to formulate a plan for college savings.
Second, work with your son or daughter to establish good habits for studying and academic achievement. Schoolwork is still fairly light in these years, both in quantity and difficulty, but the routines and work ethic that students develop here will absolutely carry over to the higher-stakes high school years.
Freshman Year
Even into ninth grade, the college planning timeline remains fairly sparse. You should keep working with your student to establish those good academic habits. In addition, encourage them to take challenging, rigorous courses rather than opting for what might look like “an easy A.” While a good GPA is important in high school, tougher courses will push your student out of their comfort zone and help them grow—potentially revealing new interests or strengths. Plus, it goes without saying that colleges appreciate students who tackle tough coursework and succeed.
Finally, sit down with your child and have a conversation about the importance of grades in high school. Grades and GPAs up to this point aren’t superfluous, but they don’t play into college consideration and admissions. Grades from freshman year on have higher stakes and it’s important for students to recognize—but not feel overwhelmed or pressured—by this fact.
As for finances, keep saving! Every little bit helps.
Sophomore Year
Junior year is when college planning efforts begin in earnest, but sophomore year is important for laying the groundwork. Consider scheduling your first visit to Right Path College & Career Planning. We can help you and your student talk through potential college goals, identify core interests, and start putting together a game plan for the next two-plus years. Services like our Career & Interest Match are a good fit for students on their cusp of the big college planning push, and sophomore year is a good time to lay those foundations. We can even start getting your student ready for the ACT or SAT.
Financially, sophomore year is an important one—and not just for continuing to save. The FAFSA requires that students and their families submit information about the prior prior income year. For example, a parent filling out the 2023-2024 FAFSA for a student preparing to enter his or her freshman year of college would have provided 2023 income and tax information for the purposes of that form. 2023 would have encompassed the spring semester of that student’s sophomore year, as well as the fall semester of their junior year. As such, how you plan your finances and file your taxes starts being very important during your student’s sophomore year—at least if you will be seeking financial aid. Chat with a financial advisor in the fall of your student’s sophomore year to see how you might reduce your adjusted gross income to improve your position for possible financial aid.
Junior Year
In a lot of ways, junior year is the most crucial year of the college planning timeline. Sure, senior year is when students will be submitting college applications, applying for financial aid, seeking scholarships, and choosing where to go to school. Still, the most important groundwork is all laid in junior year. It’s the grades from this year that college admissions folks will be focusing on as they review your student’s application. It’s the reflection and soul-searching that happens this year that will inform where your student decides to apply. It’s the college tests your student takes this year that will determine his or her admissions chances at different schools.
Simply put, junior year matters. Don’t let it go to waste. Work with your student—and our team here at Right Path—to make a “schools to apply to” list. Start visiting different colleges to get a sense of their academic and social feel. Encourage students to load up on AP (Advanced Placement) courses wherever possible; those classes both look great on transcripts and can enable students to snag a few early college credits. Sketch out a plan for ACT and SAT testing, including test prep, initial test dates, and additional test dates if your student wants or needs another crack at improving his or her scores.
As far as financial plans are concerned, the big thing during junior year is to make sure that the colleges on the “schools to apply to” list fit in your budget. Your student might have a “dream school” in mind, but how much does that dream school cost? Tuition expenses should absolutely be a factor as you and your student work to narrow down the list of potential schools. Weigh the pros of a private school against the obvious con of cost. For public universities, do the same when comparing in-state and out-of-state options. At Right Path, we help families consider the many different factors that go into deciding whether a school is a good fit for a student. Cost is part of that equation, and we can assist you in weighing it against factors such as programs offered, school reputation, location, and more.
Senior Year
You’re in the home stretch, but you’re not at the finish line yet! Take the summer before senior year to finish up any of the items left from the junior year agenda. If your student wants to take the ACT or the SAT again, for instance, finding a summer test date is the way to go. Ideally, you want those scores on file before it’s time to start submitting applications in the fall. That way, your student can focus completely on applications and admissions essays without worrying about additional test prep work.
The summer before senior year is also the right time to make any last college visits. Remember that colleges have summer sessions and that campus tours are still very much available during this time of year. Visit the websites for the schools at the top of your student’s wish list to find available dates and times for campus tours.
Once senior year actually arrives, it’s time to get down to business. Here are a few of the things you can do during this time period:
Touch base with your student regularly about where they are with their college applications.
Offer to proofread essays or help brainstorm ideas.
Encourage your student to reach out to teachers, coaches, or other mentors for letters of recommendation.
Make a calendar outlining application deadlines for different schools.
If your student is planning to apply early decision to a specific college or university, emphasize that date, application, and essay.
Start looking into scholarship opportunities, both through the schools your student is applying to and from local sources.
Remind your student to schedule an appointment with their guidance counsellor to make sure that copies of their transcript are getting to all the right schools.
Similarly, make sure ACT and SAT scores have been sent to the colleges where your student is applying.
Review your financial aid letter and determine if you might be able to negotiate for more aid.
There may be other steps involved, depending on your student’s plans and goals. For instance, students hoping to gain admission to musical programs or other fine arts departments will likely have to schedule auditions at the schools where they are applying. Athletes being actively recruited to play sports in college (or hoping to be recruited) should communicate with coaches and see what options might be out there for them. Students seeking major competitive merit-based scholarships from their colleges or universities may need to travel to campuses for those competitions. Some schools even require student interviews as part of the admissions process, which will probably also demand in-person visits.
Finally, remind your student that it is important to stay focused on school. Even though most colleges will send out acceptance letters before second-semester grades arrive, maintaining a strong GPA right until the end of high school is a must. Succeeding in AP courses and excelling on AP exams can still yield valuable college credits, which will save money and time down the road. And don’t forget that high schools have graduation credits of their own; your student should double-check with their guidance counsellor to make sure they are on track to meet these requirements.
As college acceptance letters start coming in, one of the last pieces of the puzzle is deciding on the right school. Read our blog post on the subject for tips on how to make this monumental decision. Also remember that students should notify all the schools that accepted them about their decision, whether they will be attending or not. Once the decision is made, matters like sending in a deposit and making housing arrangements will become top priorities.
Even after acceptance and graduation, the planning process isn’t 100 percent over. Read our freshman checklist to see how your student can get ready for college over the summer following their senior year of high school.
Meet with Right Path College & Career Planning for Help and Guidance Along the Way
At no point on this lengthy timeline is it too early (or too late) to decide that you and your student need a little help with the college planning process. As you can see, preparing for college is a complex juggling act for everyone involved. At Right Path College & Career Planning, we can lend a hand. We offer a long list of college planning services from our offices in Traverse City, Michigan and Waxhaw, North Carolina. Whether you need help setting goals, filling out financial aid paperwork, perfecting essays, preparing for tests, practicing for student interviews, or finding scholarships, you can call us to step in at any stage of the process. Contact us today to schedule an initial consultation.