It's all in the details!

It's all in the details! 

So you applied for admission to college and for financial aid, but you have not heard anything? This is the refrain heard time and again from students. 

However, have checked the details of your communication with the college?

1. Have you checked your email for a response? Yes, yes, we know that high school students do not use email as much as older folks, but email still remains a quick and easy way for colleges to communicate with students. Check your email and while you are at it, check to see if the email you included on your admission application is still in operation. If not, reactivate the email account, or create one just for college responses, but don't forget to inform the college (preferably by email) that your email address has changed. 
2. Speaking of changes, did you change your mailing address? Did you move since you applied for admission? If so, you must inform the colleges to which you applied of your new address. Otherwise, that coveted admission letter might go back to the college as undeliverable!
3. If the colleges to which you applied use an electronic portal to communicate with students, remember to also frequently check what was sent to you via their portals. At Kean University, we use KeanWise to communicate with students, in addition to emails and postal mail. 
4. Listen to your home and cell phone voice-mail messages. If colleges cannot reach you electronically, we may have to resort to old-fashioned phone calls to leave you important information in a message. 
5. If you are asked to submit a form listing all your family members, including their ages and your relationship to them (as students seeking financial aid are asked on the Verification Worksheet for Dependent Students at Kean University), don't just list your family members without the other information that was requested! It will only delay the processing since the college then has to contact you indicating that you only submitted partial information. 
6. When a document is asked from you, did you make sure it is exactly what was asked for? For example, for freshmen applying for financial aid, including the EOF Grant for Kean University EEO/EOF applicants, the 2013 IRS Tax Return Transcript is required and instructions are sent to students with information as to how to procure this document.  However, many people instead send to our office a photocopy of the 2013 federal tax form filed with the IRS. However, it is the 2013 IRS Tax Return Transcript instead that was requested because it shows that the IRS processed the tax forms, and that is exactly what is needed for financial aid processing. Again, it is all in the details.