Admissions & Financial Aid 101

OK. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend this webinar on the application and financial aid information at the University of Connecticut. My name is Vernon Granger. I serve as the director of admissions at the university. My tag team partner in this session is Sue Peters. She is the director of student.

Financial aid. And again, we're going to go over some very, very important information about admissions and financial aid. A few housekeeping items before we go ahead and begin. The first is that we cannot hear you or see you. So if I say something that is totally outlandish or something that gets you excited and you start jumping up and screaming, I am not going to be able to see you or hear you. So just want to save you from doing.

Anything like that. But we do have a chat function available. We want to hear from you and we have members of the Admissions Office and financial aid staff who are in the background who will be taking all of your questions. So just please feel free to send us a question. Again, one of our staff members will be on hand to be able to respond to those, the ones that we don't get to by the end of the night. We will do our best to go ahead and try to reply.

Back to you, to get you the information that you need, we are providing a recording of this presentation. It will be sent via e-mail to everyone who registered. So if you know somebody who was not able to attend the program, they will be getting a recording of this this webinar as well. General questions again can be submitted through the the the the chat function in the lower right hand corner.

If you have personal questions about your your individual students situation, we're going to ask that you reach out to us to either of our offices and we'll be providing our contact information at the end of the webinar so you can reach out to us individually and we'd be happy to talk about your your, your unique situation with with your child. So just wanted to share those housekeeping items with you before we go ahead and start the program.

So you know the first thing I want to do starting off is just you know frame the conversation around the University of Connecticut and how when we talk about the university we really talk about it in terms of being 1 Yukon. And what we mean by that is that no matter which you can't UConn campus you you are looking into or ultimately enroll in, we're going to give the same high quality education and we're very proud of our dual designation that we have at the university so.

Your boat Connecticut flagship institution as well as the land grant institution. So the flagship represents our preeminence in the state for providing high quality education and the land grant is that we're we are providing educational opportunities post secondary educational opportunities all across the state of Connecticut. So you can see on the map in the upper right hand corner of the map of Connecticut stores that is the main campus, both Sue and I work on the main campus.

Um, in stores, but you can also see the other campuses, um, Hartford, Waterbury, Stamford and the Avery Point Campus, which is located down in the New London area in Groton. So again, access all throughout the state of Connecticut, that's something we're very, very proud of and something else you'll notice on the map is our our central location in close proximity to Boston and New York, two of the major metropolitan markets.

Not only in the country but for the world for that matter and all the great opportunities that are afforded our students from being so close to those two places. Something you'll hear a lot about when when we talk about the University of Connecticut is diversity. And we talk about diversity in many different ways. And geographic diversity is one of those types of diversity that we're very proud of. The fact that we're all over the state, the fact that we enroll students from every town in the state of Connecticut and.

Every state in the country and and many countries throughout the world. So that geographic diversity is something that we are very, very proud of and it adds to the student experience that that that your students are going to be able to take advantage of at the university. But we also talk about diversity in our student body. And so you see a screen, some statistics on the screen, you know one in three of the students who are enrolling our first generation student.

Just like myself as a first generation student, again, 1/3 of the students who are enrolling at the university are first generation students. You'll see about 50% of the students who are enrolling at the university or students of color. So again, the the diversity in our student body is something that we're very, very proud of and it ultimately adds to the great experience that your students are going to be able to get when they enroll at the university and so diversity of student.

Body is another type, but also diversity in academic programs is something else that we talk about. So you can see 115 plus programs at the undergraduate level, a number of different enrichment opportunities anything from our honors program to our special programs that provide some great pathway advising opportunities for students who are thinking about those professional schools, but but the number of undergraduate programs.

The graduate majors that we choose, that you have to choose from allow students to be able to look across the look through the cross section of the academic spectrum when thinking about their programs. And one great way that that that serves our students well is just, let's use an example. A student enrolls and whether it be engineering or business or or you name the major, they they start off their first semester. They realize after a few courses that that that major may not be the best.

Program for him and other universities that student may have to look at transferring out to another institution because that university may not have that major. But because of the large number of majors that we have at the university, chances are very good that that students are going to be able to find that alternate choice for major to choose from. So again, that academic diversity is something that really benefits our students because of the academic experiences that we can give on top of that those enrichment.

Opportunities, those academic enrichment opportunities that are also something that's also beneficial or beneficial to your, to your, to your students. I want to spend a few seconds talking about the holistic review process because that really is foundational to the work that we do in the admissions office. So what we do is we employ what's called a holistic review process. And if you've been to these type of webinars, you may have heard that term before, you may think.

Some type of mysterious term out there that that there's a lot of you know, unknowns about it. But but Simply put what a holistic review process means is that when we evaluate an application we are looking at more than just one factor in making our decision. So as and you know talking more about that, you can see on the screen some of the different factors that we will be considering when we're looking at an application for admissions, so rigor.

Rigor is important because it is a great predictor to how successful student will be able to be at A at a, at a university. And it's a great preparation for students again who are going to be enrolling at UC colleges or universities to take that challenging course load or take its challenging course load as they feel is appropriate that they can manage reasonably the performance. We want to see students who you know, we want to see.

Academic achievement. So we want to see, you know the, the, the marks that that you're making, that your, your students are making in their courses. When we talk about involvement, we've broadly defined that. So it's not just one specific thing that we are looking for. So it's not just that the student is the President of the Student Council. It can be anything from the student is working 20 hours a week because they're helping to support the family. It could be their involvement at their place of worship. It could be.

That they are doing volunteer work, it could mean those things and many other, but we're looking to see the types of things that the students are involved in because ultimately when we are reviewing applications and we're ultimately making those selections, we're looking for students who are going to be able to come and contribute to the UConn community and and So what students background, what their interests are, something that we will be looking at in our review process in addition to personal.

Qualities we're, you know, the the character of students again, those, those interests, all of those things are part of, of, of, of that category. And then additional factors. And we can look at those things, the recommendations, the personal statements, the essays, the resumes, all of those are pieces of information that we will be looking at, that we will be considering when we're looking at an application for admissions.

So all of those things in combination make up our holistic evaluation, review of applications and it really is foundational as far as the work that we are doing in the Admissions office and evaluating the applications. And another thing I'll just add before moving on is that our office we are investing a number of resources.

Both training and both financial in the training of our application readers. And because again, we feel it is very, very important that we are spending that time training our readers about the evaluation of the application, things that we're prioritizing in our review. What are those priorities that the university are looking for in the students who are going to be coming in enrolling at our university. So it's something we're very, very committed to in, in spending a lot of time and energy.

And training our readers and making sure that your students are going to be getting that true holistic evaluation of their application.

And I want to go through a few checklist of items that are required for us to consider an application. Complete and complete application for our purposes means that we can go ahead and review that application for admissions. So the first thing is the actual application and you'll see on the screen that we will accept either the common application or the coalition on score application. Either application would work. There is zero preference given.

To one or the other, just a bit of advice I always give students whoever asked when they asked the question, well, which one should I choose? You know, if your student has a list of schools that they're thinking about and the majority of the the schools on that on your students list except the common application, I would say go ahead and submit the common application. If the majority of the schools will accept the coalition on Score, then I would say go ahead and use that application. But that really is the only guidance that I would give on that because again.

There is no preference for either application in our review process. The next thing we're going to want to see is the academic achievement and that is done by either the self reported academic record or the official transcript or GD record if a student did not graduate from a a secondary school.

So the quick note about those the self reported academic record, it means just as a title implies that your student would go log in, they would create their account and they would enter their courses, the level of those courses. For example, IB honors AP and their marks in those courses and they would enter that for all of their work in high school and we would use that as as part of our holistic evaluation of an application. So they can.

Submit their academic achievement by that way or they can choose to submit the official high school transcript and that's the traditional way that that many, most of you are familiar with. You go to your school counselor, you request a transcript, the official transcript to be sent to us and we can go ahead and consider that as a part of the academic record. So either the self reported academic record or official transcript, those are going to be the ways that a student can submit that work to us. There is no preference.

On which one the student chooses, it's just whichever one they prefer is how they can submit that information.

So the next two things you'll see on the screen? The personal essay letters of recommendation. The personal essay is something that's required. It's going to be something that is needed for us to have an application be considered complete. You'll see 2 letters of recommendation as optional, while they are listed as optional. I will strongly recommend that students submit those letters of recommendation, if only because they allow us to have.

Window into the student what they're interested in, they're again they're character those things that help in our holistic evaluation of an application. And a quick note I would say about the personal essay, it is your students opportunity to let us know more about themselves and I would just recommend that the student not use that as an opportunity to reiterate the grades that they got on their transcript because again that's something that myself.

Any of our readers, we know that you got an A in calculus or B in history, but we don't know about the things that you haven't interested in, and so use that as the opportunity to talk about that.

The SAT or the ACT want to spend a few minutes talking about that because you can see on the screen it's optional the the header, the headline that I want to say about that.

Is that Yukon test optional means test optional. So for the past few years we've been test optional. It's a part of A5 year pilot that we have with with regards to test optional. And if a student chooses to submit their test scores or whether they choose not, it's not going to make a difference. It is optional. And again, for us, test optional means test optional. So. So for this, the point I want to emphasize on this is that.

If your student feels that the SAT or the ACT score that they received is an accurate reflection of their academic ability, and you would want us to take a look at that, then then they would have the opportunity to submit that as a part of their application package. If they do not feel that that test score is an accurate reflection, then they have the prerogative of choosing not to submit that score and it will not disadvantage them in our review process.

And and the other note about test optional, I want to emphasize is that test optional is not only for admissions consideration but it's also for honors consideration. It's for our merit scholarship consideration and it's for our special programs. So it's test optional for all of those. And the again the headline that I want to say about test about that that that that item is that for us test optional truly means test optional. So again.

They wanted to spend a few minutes to emphasize that and talk about that because again, I think that's a very, very important thing to mention and it's something that we get questions from students about what does that really mean when we say we're test optional. The final thing that I'll say is the application fee. You can see the application fee amount on the screen. We do accept application fee waivers, those historic application fee waivers, so whether it be free or reduced lunch.

And that's a TACT testing fee waiver. Those are some of the examples of the testing fee waivers that we will receive. The final thing I will mention before I turn it over to sue, you can see on the screen 40,000 applications that that actually is a record at UConn. We never in our history received more applications than we received for the fall of 2022 class. You know I think that says a lot about the the standing that that we occupy.

In the college space, the value that folks feel about the UConn education. So we're very, very proud of that. But the point I also want to make about that is that I mentioned the investments that we make in our application reading. That also translates to the fact that every single application that we received is going to be evaluated by a member of the team. And so they're not just entered into a spreadsheet and we draw a line and we say yes or no base to where you fall on that.

Spreadsheet, our decisions are made by a holistic evaluation and your students application will be evaluated by a member of the staff. So that's the other point that I wanted to make sure to mention when talking about that number of applications that we received. But every single application is going to be evaluated by a staff member. So at this point I want to turn it over to my colleague Sue and she's going to pick up talking about financial aid.

Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining us tonight. So the application process for financial aid starts with the studentaid.gov website. So on this website, your students going to be able to access the free application for federal student aid and apply for an FSA ID. So first step I recommend is both the student and one parent each have to apply for an FSA ID. And again it's done at studentaid.gov.

Once you receive back your FSA ID, this is literally your electronic signature for the free application for federal student aid. Then you can now move to the step of actually completing the 2324 FAFSA. Now after you complete the FAFSA, you're going to receive the results that are referred to as the student aid report. Always recommend looking it over just to make sure that how you answered the questions is actually what is appearing on your student aid report. You can look at the schools that you listed.

On there because each student can list up to 10 schools. Um. Just make sure that those are the schools that are listed on that application for you.

So the basic eligibility when you're filling out the free application for federal student aid is the student has to be a U.S. citizen or an eligible non citizen. And then financial aid eligibility is based on being enrolled or accepted for enrollment in an eligible program. So it's a degree program and then the student is expected to maintain satisfactory academic progress as they go through their education. So basically, you know you've got to earn a 2.0 and continue to earn credits towards your degree.

Now for Connecticut students, we are able to offer the institutional aid application for our undocumented students and you can see up on the screen some of the requirements with regard to that. So that application though is unique to Yukon. So that would be found on the financial Aid Office website. So it's only for our in state residents, but it does afford our undocumented students the opportunity to be considered for need based financial aid.

So on the screen now you can see is the list of financial aid programs that we have available to students at that will attend UConn. We've participated in the federal Pell Grant program, the federal SOG or Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program. Then there is the Roberta B Willis need based scholarship program and university grant. Those are all need based programs. Then on the right hand side you can see that there is another state grant program called the Roberta B Willis need Marriage Scholarship. It is different, believe it or not.

Virtually the same name. Then there's also Yukon merit that we offer through the admission process for those students that apply. I think it's December 1st for just shake your head for me.

Thank you. Those students that apply by December 1st are automatically considered for merit programs that we have to offer and then schools and colleges that you can have their own departmental scholarships. And then there's also of course, third-party scholarships that may come from your civic organization, religious affiliation, high schools.

Now self help comes in the form of loans. Most students that fill out the free application for federal student aid, this is everyone of you are going to see this on your financial aid offer. There's the federal direct subsidized loan and the students name pay back after the student graduates. Federal government will pay the interest while the students in school and during the six month grace period that they are afforded after they graduate before they go into repayment. And then there's also the federal direct unsubsidized loan, this one the federal government.

Says hey, the student can borrow this with no cosigner, but there will be responsible for the interest while the student is in school and during the six month grace period that they'll have after graduation before going into repayment. The federal government also has the federal Direct Plus loan program that's in the parents name for the students education. And then of course there's also alternative loans that are available from different banks and whatnot.

Now, employment opportunities on campus are actually really great. We do have federal work study, which is a need based financial aid program offered through the federal government. But we also have plenty of student labor jobs available on campus. We have a website dedicated to it. You can see it up there on the screen, student jobs.uconn.edu, where different departments on campus will list the jobs that they have available. But don't be discouraged if the student wasn't offered federal work study because there's plenty of different job.

Opportunities available to them.

So when we calculate a student's financial aid offer, what we're going to be looking at is the total cost of attendance minus the expected family contribution. That's the results that we're going to get from that free application for federal student aid and that will determine the students need. So some of the things that go into the total cost of attendance are direct expenses, tuition, fees, room and board, but then there's also indirect expenses, you know, allowance for books and supplies, transportation.

Personal expenses, that type of stuff. And on the right hand side, you can see what are the direct expenses for our Connecticut students, out-of-state students and then also what the direct expenses are in our regional campuses as well.

Really.

So here's a nice timeline to give you an idea of the things that you should be doing as we go through this whole process. So October 1st, the free application for federal student aid became available. In addition, on our website, our undocumented student financial aid application went live. So.

Ohh my gosh, November 1st, excuse me. November 15th is the application deadline for special programs in our law, medicine and dental medicine. Then December 1st is a priority filing date for our merit scholarship programs and honors consideration. January 15th is the deadline for submitting your first year application for stores. And then February 15th is the financial aid deadline. So if you want to be considered for as many programs that you could possibly be considered for, you're going to want to fill out that free.

Application for federal student aid honor before February 15th, then on March 1st is the big day. We release both the admission decision and the financial aid offer on the same day. So keep monitoring that e-mail that you provided on your admission application because that's where that that initial notification is going to go to.

And then we have um, May 1st is our.

Deadline or Oh my gosh, I've totally lost for words.

The date that we anticipate you submitting your enrollment fee to the university. So let's see. I think we're there. Yeah, burn anything else?

Yeah. And also, yeah, I'll just add also on that, more on that May 1st date is the regional application deadline as well. So just a few other things before we wrap up and I'm glad to see all the questions that are coming in, just just.

A few things just to touch on that, that I'm seeing some questions that are coming up. There's been some questions around merit and how to be considered for those. So that December 1st date that we talked about, that was the deadline for consideration not only for honors program to get prior to consideration for honors, but also prior to consideration for merit scholarships. The merit scholarships we're talking about are the ones that are reviewed in the admissions office.

So there are merit scholarships, for example, there's some departmental scholarships that are separate from the ones that we're going to be reviewing in our office. And so there is the possibility that your student could be considered for those things as well. So that's one thing I wanted to make sure to, to talk about. You saw November 15th, that was the special programs deadline. And again, I was mentioning those, those enrichment programs, special programs are something that I would definitely recommend for those.

Students to to at least seriously consider if you are thinking about one of those professional schools and looking for those pathway opportunities to get that more intimate advising. I think that's something that that I would absolutely recommend for for students to take advantage of. So you see on the screen our contact information.

Again, we are here to serve you. We're here to answer your questions. So you can see the contact information for the Admissions office. You can see the contact information for student financial aid services. Again, we have our staff who've been in the background who've been answering your questions. And but if there are other questions at the, you know, you think about at the end of this webinar and you just, you know, you forgot to ask it.

Please feel free to contact our office by phone or by e-mail and we will do everything in our power to be able to respond to your questions. I know this is a very exciting time. It's a very hectic time for you and your family and your students as they're trying to figure out, you know what to do and you know what, you know what school they're ultimately going to be attending. But again, what we want to be able to do is be able to provide that those answers to those.

Questions that you may have and going through the whole process. So that's going to conclude the formal process, the formal program tonight. Again, I want to reiterate our contact information for reaching out to us if you have any questions and I want to thank everybody. Thank the parents, Guardians, friends for taking time out of your busy schedules. Again, I know a lot was going on in your own individual lives and for you to take the time to.

Uh, more and more about our process is something that that I, I greatly appreciate and I would encourage you just in closing, to make sure you're having those conversations with your students. It should be a process where while you're while the student is driving a lot of it, you as a parent, a guardian, a friend, should want to make sure that you are providing some feedback so it's your support as they ultimately decide what university they're going to be.

Rolling at. So again, thank you all very, very much for your time and I hope that you all have a great rest of the night.