STUDENT ENGAGEMENT:

When you look at the top ten colleges closest to your school, there’s at least one example of every one of the different types of colleges that the students have explored: public, private and proprietary. Of course, each one of these types of schools brings different financial considerations with it. Another important consideration in choosing a school is its proximity to the student.
 

Students will begin by engaging in a team challenge for this lesson. The challenge is to figure out what the top ten closest colleges to their school are. Count off the students into ten groups. Make sure there are ten groups total. No more. No less. Assign each group a number and make sure that each group writes their “Team Number” in the blue box on the right hand side of the sheet. This will be important later.
 

The students will be tasked to place the colleges on the right hand side of the page in order from closest to furthest. They will use their devices look up the schools and determine their distance from where they are right now. Once a team feels like it has the list complete, they should raise a hand so you can check. Encourage students to use a pencil to create their lists, as there might end up being some revisions needed.
 

Assess the distances of the colleges on this list ahead of time to know the proper order. Allow teams 10-15 minutes to work through the process of building the list correctly. Students may point out that there are more colleges on the right than spaces on the left. It’s okay to simply say, “Yes. You’re right.” Finished lists may look like this:
 

1. Ball State University

2. Ivy Tech - Muncie

3. Ross Medical Ed. Center - Muncie

4. Anderson University

5. Taylor University

6. Summit Salon Academy - Anderson

7. Ivy Tech - Anderson

8. Indiana Wesleyan University

9. Summit Salon Academy - Kokomo

10. Indiana University Kokomo
 

Note that the true correct order of the colleges will change depending on your school’s location.

 

DIGGING IN:

Discuss what students think the point of this activity might be. Why were these colleges chosen? Why is it important to think about proximity when choosing a school that you’d like to go to?

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When students think about the cost of going to college, students often think about “tuition.” This is the cost to register for classes and put your bottom in a seat for one year.

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What other things do students have to pay for in addition to tuition? Books? Food? What about students who live on campus, do they have to pay for their rooms? Can students attend classes and NOT live on campus?

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Students who choose to go to college often have a choice to live on campus or to be a “commuter.” This means that, if a college is close enough to your house, the student can live at home with their parents. If a student chooses to go to a college that is close enough to their home to commute, then they can save a significant amount of money.
 

Assign each group the college on the list the corresponds with their group number (1-10) and ask them to find two pieces of information for the college. First, they should find the cost of tuition at that college. Then, they should find the cost to live on campus. Make sure to explain that a number of these colleges DO NOT have campuses with dorms! That means that you CANNOT live on campus at all! If that is the case with a group’s college, they should make sure to explain that when the class reconvenes.

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Allow ten minutes to find the information for their colleges. Reconvene and allow students time to share their findings.

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Discuss how many of the colleges had on-campus housing. This means that depending on your college choice, living on campus might not even be a choice for some students. What groups notice about the cost of tuition vs. the cost of living on campus? Are students surprised to learn that these costs are so close in a lot of cases?

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This means is that if a student is able to choose the option of commuting they can often cut their costs of going to college nearly in half.
 

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INTO ACTION:

There are many different ways to keep the costs of college down, and in this lesson, students will watch a video together that outlines this. This video was designed for 21st Century Scholars. Some of students may be 21st Century Scholars and some may not. This is a program that students can only enroll in when they are in the 7th and 8th grade. There is an income eligibility limit for the program, and all students are encouraged to speak with their parents, because this program could pay 100% of tuition to an Indiana college or university.
 

(Pass out the Paying for College 101 Notes sheet to the students.)
 

As students watch this very short video, ask everyone to be on the lookout for answers to the questions on this sheet. Students should pay attention to getting the right answer for all five of the questions on this sheet. These answers will be important afterward.
 

Watch the “College Costs 101” video together. The video is available at: intoolkit.com/paying. Assist students with finding answers on their notes page throughout the video.

Once the video ends, go over each of the answers to the questions on the Paying for College 101 Notes sheet. Afterward, pass out the students’ Scholar Track overview sheets and assist the students in logging onto their ScholarTrack accounts at scholartrack.in.gov.

Once students have logged in, walk the group through the process of navigating the dashboard to the short quiz. Make sure students know that they can use the notes that they made during the video to answer the questions on the quiz.

Please note that the quiz will not let students submit until all answers are correct. Encourage students to review and think about any answers that may be wrong if their quiz is not being accepted.