Getting ready for college in middle school
From juggling multiple classes to making new friends, sometimes it seems like just getting through the middle school years is enough of a challenge for students and their families. So it might come as a surprise that the middle school years (grades six through eight) are actually the perfect time to begin thinking about college. What you do now really does pay off later.
Resources include:
Why now?
Preparing in middle school
Considering a private college
Things to know about
Financing a college education
Understanding college prices and costs
Is college still important? Yes!
With teenage entrepreneurs starting multi-million-dollar corporations and articles about the rising cost of college in the news, it’s easy to wonder whether college is really necessary. But the answer is clear. College graduates still have a wider variety of job opportunities open to them, are less likely to be unemployed, earn more money ($1 million more, on average) over a lifetime, have better access to health care and are more likely to own a home. And of all the job openings that will be created in the next five to ten years, more than 70% of them will require at least some college.
Going to college also offers students a new perspective on the world, other people and themselves. A college education is preparation for a lifetime of learning, in addition to a career.