College and the financial aid planning process should start as early in a child’s life as possible. It can be a frustrating and complicated puzzle, and parents often have no idea where to begin or how to help their children get through it.
If I Knew Then What I Know Now! College & Financial Aid Planning From A Parent’s Perspective (Pendium Publishing) by Cynthia Hammond Davis, is the true story of her struggle to find help putting all of the pieces of the college search, financial aid, scholarships, athletics and extracurricular activities together.
After experiencing first-hand how complex this journey can be, Davis decided to combine her findings and include them in a book to help other parents and students with early college awareness. This book acts as a priceless guide to help parents understand their role as well as offering basic tips on how they can assist their children through the process as efficiently as possible.
Want to know where a lot of scholarship money can be found? Want to find out how your child may be able to attend an out-of-state college while paying in-state tuition costs? Want advice that will save time during the college admission process? Answers to these questions and more can be found in this book – outlined in a short, simple, and to the point approach.
Davis believes that there is nothing to prepare parents on how and where to begin and they struggle through trying to help their children, just as she did, and it was through trial and error she learned how to get to the right information. In her instructive book, she is very candid about mistakes she made along the way in hopes of helping other parents avoid making those same mistakes.
Cynthia Hammond Davis is a College and Career Advisor, Founder/Executive Director of The Light of the City, Inc., a nonprofit organization, and President of CollegeAndCareerAdvice.Com. She is the radio talk show host of her own Saturday morning talk show, “The College and Career Information Hour,” and an in-demand public and motivational speaker.
As a college and financial aid advisor since 2001, she has helped many parents and students get through the process, resulting in their receiving scholarship offers that total over $1 million collectively each year. What Cynthia Hammond Davis does, she does with the passion of someone who truly cares about her work and about helping students to become tomorrow’s professionals.
College is one of the most expensive things parents can plan for their children and now they don’t have to waste countless hours doing their own research – Davis has done it for them. All they need to do is read the book!
My Take on the Book
As a college admissions professional, I have read many books and written one myself, so I am always looking for other books that will make the college selection and planning process easier for parents and children alike. This was a great book that brought together the great experience of the author with practical tips that can help many parents to de-mystify the college preparation process. There are some wonderful hidden gems within the book, and what is best is that the book itself is short and to the point so you are not having to sift through 300-400 pages trying to find exactly what you need, but instead the book is laid out in an easy to follow and understand way that makes perfect sense! All-in-all this was a great book for anyone looking to start the college planning process.
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