THINK YOU'RE DONE ONCE YOU SUBMIT YOUR COLLEGE APPLICATIONS? Afraid not!

1) SRAR- The Self-Reported Academic Record:

Some colleges, such as Clemson, Univ of Tenn, Va Tech, Baylor, NYU, Northeastern, and many public universities in FL, require that students go to a national site and type in all of the courses and grades from their transcript. 

Some also need you to enter your scores for SAT, ACT, and AP tests. Make sure to complete the SRAR by the application deadline. 

• HERE is the SRAR site. Start by creating a login and password.
• HERE is a list of all of the colleges that require it. 
  

NEED HELP? 

• HERE is a great tutorial video created by Penn State. (But this info applies to the process for all colleges.) 
• HERE is a great page with important do's and don'ts (by the Univ of Tenn). It also offers some helpful video tutorials.

2) NC RCN- The NC Residency Certification Number:

Students from NC who are applying to any public university in NC must get a residency certification number from the state that confirms that they qualify for in-state tuition.

Parents typically complete this process by going HERE. If your student already has an account with CFNC, use that same login information on that page. Otherwise, create a new login and password. 

Once you get the RCN number, enter that number on the Common App for every application for a public university in NC. 

3) FAFSA- The Free Application for Federal Student Aid: 

Delayed again this year!

The FAFSA is the federal form by which students can get grants and/or loans to help fund college. Grants do not need to be repaid, so we like those better than loans! For the class of 2025, parents will need to input data from the 2023 taxes. 

The FAFSA site went through a major renovation last year that caused frustrating delays and major complications. We were all hoping that this year would be better but yet again, the FAFSA site has announced that it will NOT open on Oct 1st this year, as planned. Instead, it will probably open around Dec 1st.

Parents typically complete this process by going HERE. You are applying for aid for the 2025/26 school year, not for the 2024/25 year that is currently displayed. If your student is currently a high school senior, you need to wait for the 2025/26 form to be available. 

We will send out an alert once it goes live.

If you need help completing this form once it is available, you can book with our associate, Nancy Manning, who will walk you through it. She has a background in finance and has years of experience helping families with FAFSA and CSS Profile.  To book, go to Scholarshipgold.com, click on "Book an A La Carte Appt," and book a time to meet with Nancy.

4) CSS/Profile: A financial aid form needed by very generous colleges. 

This is a different financial aid form (not FAFSA) that is required by only certain colleges. It is the form used for colleges to give out financial aid from their own pockets, not from the government. Filling this out can result in surprisingly generous financial aid offers, even for higher income families. 

CSS/Profile will be available on Oct 1st (even though FAFSA is delayed). We encourage you to complete it as soon as you can, so that funds are more available. 

• Click HERE to go to the CSS Profile site. Do not complete it until after Oct 1st, when the 2025/26 form is available. 
  
• HERE is a list of all of the colleges that require CSS Profile. Only complete it if you have at least one school that requires it. 

If you need help completing this form once it is available, you can book with our associate, Nancy Manning, who will walk you through it. She has a background in finance and has years of experience helping families with FAFSA and CSS Profile. 

To book a meeting, go to Scholarshipgold.com, click on Book an A La Carte Appt, and book a time to meet with Nancy after October 1st.

5) OTHER STEPS BEFORE YOUR APPLICATION FILE IS COMPLETE

In addition to the forms above, there are certain steps students need to take to complete their application file: 

1. Send official SAT and/or ACT scores- If you are using test scores as part of your application, you'll need to send the scores officially from the testing agency. (even if you self-reported them on your application).  Log onto Collegeboard.org to send SAT scores and ACT.org to send ACT scores.  You do not need to officially send AP scores at this point. Wait until the scores come out after the end of your senior year and then only send them to the school where you will be attending. 
   
2. Make sure your counselor sends your transcripts- This process will vary at different high schools, depending on if your school uses Naviance, SCOIR, or some other method for managing student data. Check with your counselor if you're unsure of what to do at your school. 
   
3. Confirm that your recommendation writers are still on track to write their letters on your behalf before the college deadline.   You can go ahead and submit your applications as you get them ready. Youre recommendations can be uploaded by the recommendation writers after that- no problem. But do make sure that all of your rec writers are still able to submit their recommendaiton letters before the college's applicaiton deadline. 

Other Interesting Nuggets

1. Curious about using an ROTC scholarship to fund college?

Could be a great option! HERE is a solid source, by TodaysMilitary.com, that will help you explore that idea. While it can be a way to fund college without loans, students need to carefully consider their commitment after college. 

2. Want to hear what current college students say about their college? 

Investigate Niche.com.  If you're looking for insight into a college from the students' perspective, take a look at Niche.com for candid feedback and a "report card" generated by students on topics such as dorms, food, professors, campus life, etc. It's not scientifically collected data but might give a bit of personal insight into a school.  On the site, click on Colleges along the top menu. Type in the school you'd like to investigate and review from there.

3. Want to review national ranking of colleges? 

Then click HERE to see the Forbes list. You can filter it by state, public vs private, etc. (US News and World Report also creates their own rankings but you have to buy an online subscription to see it.) Bear in mind that there are inherent flaws with the ranking process, so please don't read too much into them. Still, the list has a lot of good info on each school. 

Better yet, consider reviewing the Princeton Review's Best 389 Colleges- 2024 edition. You can purchase the book on their site HEREbut you can also access a lot of its data free online by clicking HERE. You can scroll down the page and find out which colleges have the happiest students, the best professors, the best career services, and much more.