As a mentor to a young person with the potential to attend college but little support or encouragement in their day-to-day life for this pathway, you can help clear a lot of obstacles. One challenge faced by some of these college students that often goes unrecognized is that there are several conventions around applying and acceptance to college that you may take for granted but that the student may be unaware of if no one in their family has attended.
Even if their parents have degrees, if they are from another country, they may be unfamiliar with the American educational system. By guiding them toward these resources and helping the student use them, you can make a substantial difference in their ability to access a life-changing education.
Financial Help
You’re unlikely to be able to reach into your pocket and offer them money to pay for their education, and it would probably be inappropriate even if you could.
However, there is still a great deal you can do to help them out in this area, such as obtaining and filling out FAFSA forms or searching out and applying for scholarships.
They also need to know how much money they need in total. They might not be thinking about regular living expenses or may be unaware of how much textbooks can cost.
On top of that, plenty of adults lack the ability to make a budget, so sitting down with them and working out a budget can provide them with a skill they can use throughout their lives.
Even with federal aid and scholarships, students may also need to take out some private loans. Many of these can be difficult to obtain without a cosigner since the student probably doesn’t have a credit history yet.
While it does mean taking on a big responsibility, becoming a student loan cosigner with Earnest is one way to offer a kind of help that no one else in the student’s life may be able to provide.
If you do go this route, make sure that your mentee understands that you will be responsible for the loans if they do not pay them. Discuss this and talk about a plan for handling any financial difficulties in the future.
Choosing a School
The children of college-educated parents might attend the same school that one of their parents did, or if they do not, their parents can provide them with ample help and insight into how to choose another one.
Your mentee may have little knowledge of what to look for in choosing the right school for them. High schools usually have counselors who can assist with some of this information, but these counselors may be working with many kids and might not be able to provide the hands-on attention your student needs.
Talk to your mentee about the courses they currently enjoy and what kind of career they want to pursue. Help them research schools that have strong programs in the areas they are interested in.
Talk to them as well about other criteria, such as how big of a campus they’d like to be on and whether they’d prefer to be in a large or small city or a more rural environment. Help them narrow down their choices based on these conversations.
Applications and Deadlines
Managing multiple deadlines and staying on top of paperwork is yet another skill that many adults lack, so this is something else useful that your student can take away with them to other areas in their life.
Help them identify deadlines and review requirements for financial aid, loan, scholarship, and admission applications. For applications that require a reference letter, talk to them about providing the recommender with an appropriate amount of time to complete the process.
What to Expect
Just as you can do with the admissions process, you can also help the student better understand what to expect once they are on campus. As a mentor, your role shouldn’t be to tell them what to do, but you can answer their questions and help prepare them for college life.
You can talk to them about the benefits of getting to know their professors, perhaps stopping by during their office hours once or twice instead of simply interacting in the classroom.
You can also talk about opportunities to get involved in organizations on campus that can build leadership and other skills. They may also be unaware of internships in how important they can be in certain fields, how to seek out, and apply for them.
