Southeast Texas P-16 Council

Texas members of the Class of 2010 earned the highest mathematics and science scores posted on the ACT in the past decade, even as the number of test takers rose by 12 percent this year.

The overall composite score for Texas test takers remained steady at last year’s record high score of 20.8.

“The Class of 2010 has proven itself to be a pace setter. More of these students are planning to attend college and they set new records by earning Texas’ highest math and science scores. In fact, their average math score is substantially higher than the national average for math. Most of our student groups also outperformed their counterparts nationally,” said Commissioner of Education Robert Scott.

Among the Class of 2010, 92,615 Texas seniors took the ACT, compared to 82,640 members from the Class of 2009. Much of the increase is attributed to a fee waiver that allows low-income students to take the test for free.

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So you’re a senior this year? 

It’s going to be a whirlwind year of studying — an a lot of it won’t be just your school work.  You will also to have to do a lot of studying about you college choice for next year.

Juniors can get a jump on this,  taking advantage of a more leisurely pace with less deadlines to worry about.

Some of what you will need to learn this year includes

• What do you want to study in college?
• What is the best college for you?
• When do you apply?
• How are you going to pay for college?
• How much financial aid can you get?
• What loans and other sources of funds can you use to pay for college.

It’s time to start having serious talks with your parents. They may have gone to college, but they will have a lot of catching up to do –things have changed dramatically over the years.  Including some new changes just this summer, that can dramatically affect your changes for college.

We will be bringing you some information resources on a regular basis. To get you started we offer these:

Motley Fool’s college savings calculator  — a simple easy to use calculator along with some savy advice, from a trusted financial web site.

MSN gives a quick primer on college costs, what’s driving them up, and the real (an suprisingly affordable) cost to you.

US News and World Report offers this Financial Aid 101 for parents and students.

CollegeToolKit.com offers this quick rule to start you thinking about how much financial aid you can expect for going to college:

“A good rule of thumb for computing financial aid is to take 20 percent of your top-line income (before any deductions) and add 5 percent of your assets (not including your residence). This amount is a very rough approximation of how much you will be expected to spend per year for your student’s education.

“Here’s an example. If you make $100,000 per year and your assets are worth $200,000, universities would expect you to cough up $30,000 (20 percent of $100,000, plus 5 percent of $200,000). “