1. Encourage your teen to work hard on improving his GPA, and to take the ACT and/or SAT at least once by spring of his junior year. Have him keep track of his activities, so he'll have that record when it's time to fill out applications.
2. Help him find a part-time job in order to start saving for his education.

1. Encourage your student to keep those grades up!
2. Ask him about his ACT and/or SAT scores. Discuss retaking the test(s) if he thinks it could improve his scores.
3. Find out what financial assistance information your student received from his guidance counselor. Encourage him to check with the guidance counselor regularly to pick up scholarship applications. You'll be surprised at all the awards out there.
4. Fill out some practice worksheets for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) online at fafsa.ed.gov/worksheet.htm. Make sure you or your student gets a PIN number to use online when you fill out the actual copy of the FAFSA.
5. Be sure you have all the financial aid forms that are required by the colleges your student is considering.

1. Fill out a FAFSA online at fafsa.ed.gov as soon as possible after January 1. (You can also get a FAFSA at the guidance office or the library.) Once the FAFSA is processed, you'll see what your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) will be. The EFC is the amount of money you and your child will be expected to pay for college. Information from your latest tax return (or estimates of those figures) is needed to complete the FAFSA.
2. Make copies of your latest tax return to send to the Financial Aid offices that request it. Include copies of your student's latest tax return too, if he has one. Send everything in as soon after January 1 as possible.
3. Be sure any additional forms that are required by a specific school are sent on time.
4. Photocopy all forms before sending them in.
5. Watch your mailbox for the Student Aid Report (SAR), which should arrive a few weeks after you complete the FAFSA. This is an opportunity to make corrections to the original figures (especially if they are estimates) and get an idea of how much money your family will have to contribute for college.
6. If you update your information, send it on to the FAFSA folks. Some colleges will even file these changes for you. Find out if the schools he's been considering provide this service.
7. If the SAR doesn't arrive within four weeks of filing the FAFSA, call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID and ask about the report. You also can check the status online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
8. Have him contact the financial aid offices at colleges he's considering to find out about grants, loans and work-study opportunities.
9. Keep your eyes peeled for scholarships. Your child might be eligible for awards from the colleges he is considering, based on academics, athletic ability or leadership potential. And don't give up on outside scholarships. Encourage him to continue asking his guidance counselor for information.

1. By mid-March or early April, your student should begin to receive award notices from those colleges he applied to. These notices explain what kinds of aid he will receive, how much he has been awarded, where it will all come from, and what your family will be expected to pay.
2. Pray for and with your teen about which college he should attend. When he's chosen one, make sure he's sent in the original Student Aid Report to that school's financial aid office (if they require it) and kept a copy for himself.
3. Congratulate him on his hard work and dedication in making this decision!

Thanks to Donna Peltz, director of financial aid at Wheaton College (IL), who helped with this article.

Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Campus Life magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Campus Life.