Applying to UConn: Admissions & Financial Aid

OK, we are right at the start time, I'm going to get it going to give it a few minutes for folks to log in still as we see the participant count creep up. So if you could just bear with us, we'll start in a few minutes.

For those who are joining us, I'm giving it a minute to allow some more attendees to log in. Their participant count is going up, so I want to allow for just some just a minute or so for more folks to come on.

OK, well let's go ahead and start the webinar. I want to thank you for joining us today. My name is Vern Granger. My colleague in financial aid, Sue Peters will be joining the webinar in in just a little bit. But this is our webinar for school counselors to kick off the the school year be able to provide you with some important updates and important.

Information around applying to UConn and the the application process. Just a few reminders for you all that we can. We're not going to be able to see you. You can see us, but we can't see you, so.

Don't wave if you have a question or anything like that could well, we're not gonna be able to hear you, but if you do have a question, we do have a chat feature for you to go ahead and enter the question. Also, we have staff from admissions and financial aid who are on hand, who will be able to answer your questions who. So anything that comes up, please do not hesitate to send us a chat in one of the members of the admissions and financial aid.

Staff will be available to answer your questions. Also, if there's something of a personal nature regarding an individual situation, please feel free to contact our respective office and we'll be able to respond to your questions that way. So I'm going to go ahead and start the the webinar with the obligatory data slide, just to give everybody an update on what the class is looking like. I've been here at UConn for four years now and it feels like every single year.

I start this webinar off with the same message that we were just pleased with the another great class increases in diversity quality looks phenomenal and I can say that again this year we're very, very pleased with how the class is looking. We received a record number of applications this year for for fall consideration. You know all total you know we received actually 43,000 and some change in applications.

For admissions consideration, which represents a record for the university. So again, it just speaks to the great demand that we're seeing in, in students who are really excited about the UConn education. About 550 students are are enrolling in our honors program at the stores campus.

Our first first year class is about little under 4100 students who are who are enrolling in the stores class and you can see the breakdown, residency breakdown, 57% of the students are Connecticut residents, 34 out of state and 9% international. That 9% represents an increase from last year where our international percentage was around 6%. So we saw a a rebounding of our international applicants who are applying.

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2D University 49% represents a record as far as our the the the students of color who were enrolled at the stores campus in our first year class, which represents a record. When you break that down and looking at underrepresented students of color, African American, Latin X, Native American students, that also represents a record as well with about 28% of the the the first year students are coming from those.

Backgrounds and then you can see the the female, male ratio of students on the right hand side. We do share the mid 50% of our enrolled students SAT averages just to provide you with that information. But as you are all aware and as I'll talk about in a little bit, we are test optional and so those represents the averages, the mid 50% ranges of those students who did submit test scores.

Because again, we do not require students to submit test, test for admissions consideration. So again, give a high level overview about what the class is, what the fall 22 class looked like. And again, just thanking all of you for your help in getting the word about out about UConn communicating our process. Yeah, again, we know that without you and the work that you all do, we would have great challenges in being able to achieve.

The success that we have, so we've definitely valued this relationship.

Some new, some updates just to share with you that the thought are very, very important for you. Again, I mentioned the test optional. We did extend the test optional pilot from three years to five years. We are researching, we are researching the the the impact of test optional on the class that enrolls and we just all felt that we needed a little more time to have a few more cohorts to go through and be able to properly analyze.

On the impact of test optional, I'm self reported, last year we made the change to adding the ability for students to do submit their academic record through our self reported academic record portal. We're continuing with that being optional for this year so students still have the opportunity of either doing the SRAR or going ahead and doing the the the.

Transcript, official transcript that comes from you all special programs we did we we we are tabling our special program and education this year. So that's an important update to to to share with you all I think a few other important updates that I just want to focus on going down at the bottom the day of pride scholarship and the Nutmeg Scholarship programs that is of interest for our in state students. We moved that.

We heard from a number of counselors who felt that they were not able to properly recommend students for consideration for both of those scholarship programs that put a lot of undue burden on on you and your role. So we listened and we made the decision to move that to a self nominating process. So any student is able to go ahead and submit a non sit there not submit their nomination for the for for the.

Either today or pride or then that makes scholarship programs and then above that the app application Fee free day it's remaining November 15th. This again is just for Connecticut residents. Our state legislature passed passed that last year and this in collaboration with our other state universities, other public universities, the CSU's. We've we're collaborating and having that one unified date that.

That Connecticut residents are able to go ahead and submit their application to UConn without an application fee. So again, we're continuing in that this year and it's remaining on November the 15th.

Some updates on some residence halls just to make you aware of the university has been very intentional in moving and becoming more green and this, this residence hall space represents our move to that. We're really, really excited about this and you're seeing our new buildings that come online and and and retrofitting a number of the buildings on campus to again make Yukon.

Um, a much more green campus. And so we're really excited about that and this is some information that we're we're pleased to share as as again we continue to move in this space.

You've heard us talk in the past about our application review process and what it means and and and it's really foundational regarding the the holistic review process. I mean that ultimately is what our application review process is all about and.

Emphasizing the, you know, wanting to take a look at the rigor of an applicant and they're the performance in their classes and the involvement that they're that they are taking part in and personal qualities and additional factors. All of these things are what we are really looking at when we are considering an application for admissions and and that really is foundational to the application review process. That's why when we made the move to go into test optional.

It was not really that big of adjustment for us because we never stopped focus on one single factor in our application review process. So again the holistic review process is extremely critical to our review of an applicant and and that continues to be a case the case when we're looking at applications.

For completing an application for admission to the university, wanted to go over to checklist items for for consideration for admissions. Obviously the application and we accept either the common application or the coalition application on score. Either one of those will be will be available for folks to go ahead and do that.

The self reported academic record or the official transcripts, that's another thing that that that where there's going to be required for considered having application, considered the personal essay is also required. Letters of recommendation are optional. We strongly recommend them but they are optional. The test scores again we are test optional and so it's not required for student to submit test scores, but if they do submit it.

We will look at that. We will consider those as a part of the application and then the application fee is the final piece.

Some timeline to to make you all aware of the FAFSA application is now live and Sue will talk a little more about that. Again, November 15th is important for students who are looking for consideration into our special programs, so please take a note of that. December 1st is that priority deadline for our merit scholarships as well as honors consideration. So go ahead and consider that a note.

About honors consideration, in addition to our merit scholarships, we are holistic for all of those and we are test optional for all of those as well. So if a student submits a test score, they will get full consideration. If they don't submit a test score, they will still get full consideration for those dip. For those other processes, January 15th is the last possible date to submit an application for consideration for the fall at at fall 2323 class at stores.

February 15th, Sue will talk more about this as the FAFSA priority date. Mark first is that date that we will let everyone know about a decision. They'll be able to log into their applicant portal and get not only an admission decision but also a financial aid notification as well. So all that will be done and it will be available for students to access on March the 1st.

And then May 1st is that regional campus deadline for students to submit their application for admissions consideration. I don't think I want to just touch on before turning it over to the Sue is that we continue to utilizeslate.org. Sleep.org is a great tool for you as a school counselor to be able to access applicant information about this your students. So you'll be able to see if anything is missing, but you'll also be able to see.

When those admission decisions go out, we turn, we typically turn on slate.org the decision function a few days after that March 1st date in order for us to ensure that there if there's anything that needs to be cleaned up. I'm not going wood, that doesn't happen, but we always want to make sure we give ourselves that opportunity. So please utilizeslate.org if you're not registered for slate.org, I strongly recommend you do that. And then again, it will allow you to be able to access.

Um your your student application information? So at this point I want to go ahead and turn it over to my colleague Sue who will pick up on the financial aid piece.

Thanks, Fern. Hi, everyone. My name is Suzanne Peters and I'm the director of financial aid here at the University of Connecticut. We administer financial aid for our stores campus, all of our regional campuses also.

So first thing I'd like to tell you about is a couple of new things that are coming down the Pike for our students is we have contracted with a company called Insectia and their only focus is completing the verification process for our students. So students that are selected for verification by the processor, the federal processor, will receive notification from incepta about whatever documents that they need to submit. One of the nice things about Incepta is that there's other state institutions.

And Connecticut that used the same platform. So hopefully that will help your students get through the process. We also offer podcasts. We have newsletters and events that go on to try to get students engaged with the financial Aid office and we're trying different ways to get information out to them. We also have created last cycle of financial aid, a financing, excuse me, website that helps students understand the different ways that they can cover that gap between the financial aid.

That's been offered and what the bill is and there's different things for them to think about. You know, it's not an all or nothing. So we've created this website in an effort to get additional information out to our students and we've also created what we call the satisfactory academic progress calculator. One of the federal requirements for financial aid is that the financial aid office must monitor the students academic progress to ensure eligibility and what we have done is created a tool that the student.

And actually put their information in and see how they're doing. So hopefully that will be helpful. Maybe they won't need it, but if they do, we've got it there for them. So how do students apply for financial aid? For those students that are filling out the free application for federal student aid, they'll go to studentaid.gov the student and the parent right on that site will create an FSA ID, each one separately.

If you've got a a student who has a sibling, an older sibling in school, their parent will use the same FSA ID to sign the older students and your students FAFSA. So they don't have to create one for each child. They can use the same one over and over again. And then the student will use that same FSA ID every year that they apply for financial aid. That is something that they can actually do right now. They don't have to wait for the 2324.

After to become live on October 1, they can actually get that part done. So apply for that FSA ID now, both the student, the parent. Then come October 1st, they fill out the free application for federal student aid and once they hit submit and sign, they're going to get back the results of their FAFSA. We refer to that as a student aid report or a SAR. It sounds very similar to what Vern was talking about, but it's totally different and that will list.

How they responded to all those questions they can view on what schools they had the information released to, just to make sure they got the right schools on there. And if they need to make any changes, they can do that right away.

So to be eligible for federal student aid and need Bay State at the University of Connecticut, there's an exception. But first I'm going to start with those that fill out the FAFSA. The student has to be either a U.S. citizen or an eligible non citizen. The student has to be enrolled or accepted for enrollment in an eligible program of study and they have to maintain satisfactory academic progress. And basically what that means is the student is progressing towards a degree now for our in state population though.

We do have need based institutional aid available and for those students that qualified, they will fill out the institutional aid application for our undocumented students and that will also be live on October 1. That application though is found on Yukons website. We have an undocumented student financial aid website right on financialaid.edu for UConn, so the student can go right there to fill out that application anybody who's in Connecticut.

Our Connecticut guidance counselors, other state institutions have their own undocumented student financial aid application, so that will be different at each school, but that will be available October 1. So the student would go right on to our website, log in and fill out that application and they do have to have a parent sign it also.

So what types of financial aid could a student expect to see on their financial aid offer? Well, the first type you know is gifted and that could be based on. That's the type of free money that they don't have to pay back. It's the best kind. It could be in the form of need based grants or scholarships in response to the submitting of the free application for federal student aid or the institutional aid application for our undocumented students. Or it could have been merit financial aid that the student was offered as a as part of the holistic review. That's done.

By admission, there's also self help aid and that is in the form of student loans. Those are typically paid back after the student graduates about six months after they graduate. So and then there's also employment. So a student could be offered federal work study as part of a need based financial aid offer, but we also have student labor available on campus at UConn and at our regional campuses and that means the student doesn't need to be awarded work study to be able to.

Earn money while they're on campus. One of the things that I do like to point out, though, is there is a difference with the student will get their financial aid offer, but what actually appears on the bill may not be everything that they've been offered through the financial aid process. So a student will see if they've been given a merit scholarship, if they've been awarded a private scholarship from the outside, maybe the Kiwanis Club, their high school, something like that. Any departmental scholarships will appear grant dollars awarded as part.

Of the free application for federal student aid or the institutional aid application for undocumented students. Loans will appear on the bill and then any private loans that they may apply for will appear on the bill. You'll notice what doesn't appear on the bill is federal work study or student labor. The student will earn that for the hours that they work. So that's the money to buy that deodorant, possibly get a pizza, that type of stuff. It does not come off the bill now. The estimated cost of attendance is.

You'll see on the left side we talk about the cost of attendance minus the expected family contribution and that's a students demonstrated need and that's what we're going to use to determine what type of need based financial aid the student qualifies for. But the cost of attendance has things in it that are not actually billed to the student. Like for example, we will include an allowance for transportation, an allowance for personal expenses, but the things that the student will see on the bill that's on the right.

And side, so that's the tuition, the fees and the room and board. And what we're showing you is what the current costs are for our Connecticut residents, our students from outside of Connecticut and then those that would be attending the regional campuses. Also, there's additional detailed information though, available on our bursar website. It kind of breaks it down. It gives students information about what's included in those fees and what not and what they mean. So I always recommend that if students come to you with questions about that, they should.

With the bursar website, and they'll be able to get the full information there.

I'm going to hand it back over to Vern. Thanks.

Thank you, sue. Um, so few other things before we wrap up. The first is just to remind you all that we are open as a university in person. It is so great to see all the hustle. I mean, it was so exciting the first day of classes a month ago. I can't believe I'm saying a month ago classes began, but but it was so great to see all the students and go into union and see all the great activity. It's just very, very exciting.

I say all this to remind you that your students have plenty of opportunities to come and visit the campus and the first ones are actually going to be this weekend. We have our first fall campus visit day on Sunday, October 2nd. There's also one on Saturday, October the 15th and and so we are excited to host students, bring them on the on the campus. You'll see that website on the left, the admissions.uconn.edu.

Slash Explorer, hyphen UConn. Please direct your students to that site to get more information about any of those any of these visit opportunities, including our Husky for a day programs for for those familiar with UConn, those were the more intimate visit opportunities. We we we put those on hold as a result of COVID, but we are going to be bringing those back and and there'll be more information available at that website, campus tours.

We have been doing campus tours even through through at the beginning of the pandemic. We are obviously continuing with the campus tours and and students are still able to register for those Monday through Friday. And then there are various regional campus events you can see on the dates for the various regional campus events in the fall. So many opportunities to learn more about the university for you as school counselors.

A couple things I want to make sure you all are aware of. Because again, it's really important that you all get the information that you need in order to better do your jobs. And so we have a dedicated school counselor website. So going to the Admissions Office website and you'll see at the top at the links, you can do information for school counselors and it will take you to our dedicated school counselor Web page where you'll be able to get easy access to a lot of the information that.

That you are looking for as school counselors. We also have a couple of guides that are available especially for school counselors, so a school counselor guide for in state student, in state counselors and one for out-of-state counselors. And so that's available. We have a PDF versions of those on our website or if you need hard copies, just contact our office and we'd be happy to share those with you because again, we think it's very, very important.

For you to get that information and then there's gonna be a a number of other webinars in the fall dedicated for school counselors. Every time we do one of these webinars, we not only send out a copy of the recording to our registrants, so you will be getting an e-mail with that information.

But also we put that on our website, the Count School Counselor website for you to be able to to view on demand. Because again, it's very, very important for you to be able to get the information that you need in order to get be able to properly advise your your students. And then you'll see our contact information on the screen and and we absolutely encourage you to contact us, contact our Staffs. I mentioned a couple of examples of based on.

Feedback that we heard from school counselors that we have made changes in our admissions process. I talked about the nutmeg, nutmeg and day or pride. I mean we heard that loud and clear from school counselors who felt the pressure of having to recommend students for these flagship scholarships and not really have feeling as comfortable as far as making that recommendation and and and so we talked about that. We did extend the the self reported academic record.

Pilot to another year based on feedback, wanting to get more familiar, being able for you as school counselors to better advise your students. And so your feedback is especially important to us. And so I want to stress that with you all and I'm getting more information about that. So I see a question on the screen about Husky for a day again, that website that I shared with you and I'll go back a screen just so you can see that the admissions.uconn.edu.

Slash Explorer, hyphen, Yukon uh, you'll be able to get information about that. But again I will go ahead and we're going to go ahead and send these this presentation out to everybody so you can have that information. So that concludes the formal portion of the of the webinar. I want to thank you all as school counselors for taking time out of your busy days. I know that if college counseling was your only duty.

And that was the only thing that you were charged with. That would be a full time job and into itself, but you were also doing so many other things. And so for you to take the time to view this webinar, we really appreciate it. And again, as I said at the beginning, thank you for your collaboration with us and the Admissions Office and financial aid offices because again, we could not have the success of bringing in these magnificent classes without all the work that you all provide us. So again, thank you all very, very much.

For your time and I wish you all a great rest of the day and a great rest of the academic school year.