Suzanne Shaffer's Page

Talk about college sticker shock! I just read an article about a company that charges $14,000 for a 4-day Application Bootcamp. The camp sells out every year and boasts a waiting list. The statistics are posted about the students who attend and the results of their admissions applications. The stats are impressive, but I had to ask myself if that price tag was worth the results.

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For many of you, it’s just been a few days since the school shut its doors for the summer and your teens are already showing signs of boredom. Never fear! The cure for boredom is to put them to work. Every parent knows that idle hands are the devil’s playground (great line from The Music Man). But seriously, here’s a great way to keep them occupied and productive: have them search for scholarships. There are oodles of summer scholarship opportunities. Some themed around summer, and some w… Continue

Parents always ask me, “How did you do it? How did you survive all the pre-college preparation and the barrage of forms and application deadlines?” Honestly, if you were to have asked me while I was navigating that maze I would have said I was drowning. Like most parents, those years came quickly and I thought I had all the time in the world. Not so. I think we successfully survived because we had a plan. We started early and we kept accurate records. And, we did tons and tons of research and as… Continue

It’s a given that the greatest college expense will be tuition, followed by room and board. But it’s the little things that can add up. If you’re budgeting for college and have all your ducks in a row regarding the BIG expenses, you might want to take a pencil and budget in the little things. You’ll be surprised how the nickels and dimes can add up to hundreds.

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