General

Encourage your child to review the list of academic and personal goals that he/she prepared at the beginning of the year, noting successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses, and interests and disinterests. This annual exercise in introspection will eventually reveal consistencies that will help your child determine which career path to pursue.

It’s highly recommended that your child file his/her best papers, newspaper clips, awards, artwork, etc. from the past year in a master file (or scrapbook or box). This will be invaluable when it’s time for him/her to create a resume or fill out applications for internships, scholarships, fellowships, grad school and/or jobs.

If your child hopes to graduate next year with a job waiting – but he/she still isn’t sure in what field – you might suggest taking a career interest test.

How is your child managing the details and paperwork of life away from home? If he/she could use some help in planning and organization, here’s a great gift idea: the Captio CollegeCase a quick-and-easy organizational system designed to help your child (or anyone’s child) manage life at college.

Members of College Parents of America: Save 15% on the purchase of a Captio CollegeCase.

Summer Jobs

If your child didn’t get – or didn’t get around to getting – a job for the summer, he or she should contact a local temp agency. Sometimes these experiences can lead to full-time jobs upon graduation.

Is your child looking for a part-time, hourly or summer job? Click here for listings of opportunities with nationwide retail and restaurant chains and others.

Encourage your child to draw up a detailed summer budget that will include savings for college expenses among other fiscal responsibilities.

At the end of the summer, urge your child to evaluate his/her summer job or volunteer experience, noting new skills learned and/or objectives achieved. He/she should review which responsibilities were enjoyable and/or meaningful – and which were not. He/She should also ask his/her supervisor to provide a letter of recommendation or to fill out a performance evaluation, which should then be placed in a master file. Your child should also send a thank-you note to his/her supervisor(s).

Financial Aid

If your child anticipates a fifth year of college to complete his/her degree – or if he/she will be doing post-graduate studies, he/she should explore scholarship, grant or fellowship opportunities now. If any previous scholarships require annual renewal, he/she should request applications now and note the deadlines for submission.

New scholarships are created or become available every year. Your child should maintain an ongoing search. To begin an online search for scholarship opportunities, there are several free services at sites such as www.brokescholar.com and www.fastweb.com. (Typically, these sites have databases providing $1-3 billion in scholarships and fund their services through advertising or selling their mailing lists.)

Exponentially larger and more up-to-date databases are offered for a fee (i.e., FindTuition.com features $24.3 billion in scholarships and grants).

Members of College Parents of America: Save 25% on a subscription to FindTuition.com.

Be wary of scholarship scams (i.e., companies that “guarantee” scholarships). To report a suspected scam, click here.

Returning to College

Your child should undergo a complete physical exam by your family doctor and have prescriptions transferred to a pharmacy near his/her college. Also, if your child’s medical expenses are not covered by your family health insurance plan (which often covers minors only), check the college’s student health insurance plans. (Note: It is recommended that students should have a minimum of $50,000 of medical coverage.)

It is also a good time to schedule a dental appointment for an annual X-ray and semi-annual cleaning.

Members of College Parents of America: For answers to questions about vaccinations, illnesses on campus, health care and insurance, consult campus health expert Jim Grizzell at Ask the Experts. You’ll get a comprehensive, personal response within 72 hours.

If your child knows what textbooks will be required for the fall, it’s a good idea to purchase them now (they’re known to sell out occasionally) and to get a jump on reading them. “Tips on Buying and Selling College Textbooks” is a useful article that offers alternatives to buying high and selling low.

For potential deals on textbooks ordered online, click here.

To gauge your child’s progress in college so far, read Bill Coplin’s “10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College.” This is an excellent guide to ensuring that he/she is making the most of his/her academic and extracurricular experiences in school.

Members of College Parents of America: If you have questions for Mr. Coplin about your child’s employment potential, you’ll get his personal response within 72 hours when you Ask the Experts.

If your child needs some extra help to improve his/her academic performance, click here to learn about online tutoring services.

One of parents' top concerns is the safety and well-being of their children when they leave home for college. Emergency Contacts is an inexpensive service that can help put some of those fears to rest without compromising your child's independence or privacy. Click here to learn more about this valuable service.

Members of College Parents of America: Save 10% on SMARTHINKING online tutoring services, the leading provider of 24-hour, live online academic assistance.

Before school resumes in the fall, make hotel reservations for Parents Weekend or any other weekend that you plan to visit.

Graduate School

Standardized testing for graduate school will begin in the fall. Your child should register in August for the October testing dates. It is highly recommended that he/she begin studying in earnest for these during the summer before classes start in September.

Excellent study guides and online test preparation courses for the GRE, LSAT, GMAT, MCAT and others are available through Peterson’s.

Members of College Parents of America: Take advantage of your 30% discount on all Peterson’s publications and 20% discount on online test prep courses.

Click here to access free practice tests to help your child become familiar with the various graduate school admissions tests.

Now is the time to discuss your child’s graduate school plan. Does he/she plan to visit some schools? Will there be travel costs incurred? How does your child hope to finance grad school? He/she should begin requesting applications, course catalogs and financial aid forms from each school now. (Applications are typically mailed out in August and September and are due in October.)

If your child is considering going to law school, “Should You Really Be a Lawyer?” by Deborah Schneider is a must-read.

Members of College Parents of America: If you have questions for Ms. Schneider about whether your child should go to any type of graduate school, you’ll get her personal response within 72 hours when you Ask the Experts.

Special Offer: As a Decade of Decisions subscriber, you are eligible to enroll as a College Parents of America member for as little as $19 per year. To learn more about membership benefits and options, click here.