While April may be the cruelest month, March can be especially rough for students bound for college or graduate school. Late March and early April are when admissions decisions and financial aid letters roll out for those not immediately accepted or rejected by their dream schools, and around now, things are getting pretty agonizing. While a large part of March is consumed by waiting, even those who have already received good news may be consumed by the crushing dread of all the work to be done before September. After all, if you get into a college or graduate school, you still have to figure out how to pay for it, what classes to take, what forms to complete, what to do with your life between now and then, and for many students, how to graduate on time, as well. So, while you may still be waiting for a decision, there are things you can do in March to make April through August easier.
First, budget your time. Figure out the things you'll need to do, and make a plan to get them done. While you can't yet pick your classes or contact an unassigned roommate to figure out who is bringing the fridge or the TV, you can take care of other things.
If you haven't done so yet, complete the FAFSA. If you did a FAFSA with your 2007 tax information, do your 2008 taxes and submit a correction. Check your student aid report to see if you were chosen for verification, a process roughly equivalent to an audit of your FAFSA that is conducted by your college. Colleges receive a glut of verification forms towards the start of the school year, and a delay in completing it can result in a delay in financial aid. If you're not sure you've done everything you need to receive aid on time, contact the college to make sure. It's better to find out now than to find out on the first day of classes when you need to buy books and find that you can't.
Keep searching for scholarships and submitting scholarship applications. Deadlines are approaching rapidly, and available scholarships for the 2009-2010 academic year will only get more sparse as you approach the start of the fall semester. This doesn't just go for high schoolers--if you're a soon-to-be graduate student with an acceptance letter in hand, but no assistantship or fellowship, don't count on funding emerging later. This can and does happen, but many schools make these awards with their admission decisions.
If you've received your financial aid award letter at your college of choice and it's come up drastically short, look into options for appealing it, especially if your financial circumstances have changed or if you've gotten a better offer from a different school. You may also want to start shopping around for student loans. You might not be able to apply until summer (and you might not want to if you're currently applying for scholarships), but knowing what's out there now can help later.
If you take these steps now, then it will be easier to direct your spring and summer towards enjoying (or enduring) school, preparing to graduate, and figuring out your summer plans. You'll also be less rushed and less likely to forget to do important things, like signing up to register for classes or mailing in a deposit on time.
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