Using College Counseling Services Effectively

Professional counselors can help you through effective college counseling services to make better college planning decisions as you search for scholarships and financial aid. An effective counselor will not make the decisions for you, but through the college counseling services provided, recommend available options and provide the necessary resources to help you in your decision-making process. Only you can make the decisions for your life and career. However, with appropriate professional counseling, your decisions can be more goal-oriented and directed to suit your needs.

Experience in providing college counseling services, including the know-how for attainment of scholarships and financial aid, is an essential criteria when you select a professional counselor, whether it be a school counselor or a private counselor. College guidance is a highly specialized area of counseling usually directed by the senior counselor at the high school. However, the level of college-planning expertise of guidance counselors varies from grade level to grade level and from school to school. Realize that the school counselor has other duties and that you are not the only student who needs assistance.

A private counselor may be the answer to your needs for individualized attention and more one-on-one assistance in providing the nature and extent of counseling services you require. However, when selecting a private counselor, first make sure that you examine the person's professional credentials in college counseling services. These credentials should consist of such items as a proper business license, college degrees, educational experience, and a proven track record in achieving results. If you have questions regarding the credentials of the counselor or the counseling service, contact the Better Business Bureau and other available independent sources who can validate them for you.

High school counselors are available to assist you, but may have over-loaded student/counselor ratios and other responsibilities within the school. Therefore, you should assess the situation for yourself and make your own decisions regarding counseling services. You may even consider conferring with both a high school counselor and private counselor.

How Can A Professional College Guidance Counselor Help You?

.Give one-on-one counseling to enable you to express your ideas, concerns, and questions to get a better focus on your options and approaches

.Provide available sources and materials to assist you in career planning, college selection, and admission/application procedures

.Provide you with a listing of available scholarships and financial aid sources to help finance your college education

.Lead you to appropriate community resources that are available and to the right contact people

.Help you to make contact with the proper authorities to assist you in college planning, admission, scholarships, and financial aid

.Provide group counseling opportunities to share in concerns of students and parents

Scholarship Consultant Services, Inc., the publishers of the recent book Gearing Up To Finance A College Education, has successfully counseled many students over the years, succeeding in getting them headed in the right direction for their college planning program and in attaining scholarships and financial aid.

They can be a good resource for you as well. Act now by developing a comprehensive, common sense approach to follow in planning for your college education, by attaining the college counseling services guide prepared for parents and students.