College is something that can cause some people nightmares and can cause others dreams to come true. It is not easy to complete the journey of actually getting to college. It takes many many years, a lot of time, effort, and money.

The important years of the journey are the years a student is in high school. A lot of colleges these days are looking at students’ GPAs. In the later years of high school, when many students are starting to think about college and fill out applications, it can be really hard to raise that GPA. The student would have about two-three years working against them. A way not to get buried into that type of hole is to start high school with getting good grades.

“I regret not trying hard enough freshman year” said a Washington Township High School Junior.

One nightmare that is common among parents who send their children to college is the financial burden. It cost roughly three hundred dollars to just be able to park at Rowan University as a student. There is also the cost of books and dorm rooms.. College is getting more and more expensive and not a lot of students should want to take out thousands of dollars in loans or be in debt. It is hard for some students to start saving at an early age because they do not fully understand what college is all about.

Scholarships play a big part in easing those money nightmares. Some of those scholarships are athletic scholarships, which can be a very hard scholarship to win for some students. If a student is not athletic, the types of scholarships that are available to those students are academic scholarships. But as stated before, if a student does not try their best during their years of high school, then their GPA and their grades will not be as good.

It is hard for some students to get academic scholarships because they simply may not be the best test takers. There are many different types of standardized test like the SATs or the PARCC. Scoring the right kind of grades on these tests can be difficult.

Many students hope college will be were dreams come true. It is a place where they can start truly being independent and start the things they may want to do the rest of their lives. But most of the time the journey there is not so easy. Students want to get an early start on preparing for college to keep those nightmares that come along with it at bay.