Please send your Happy Buck and Polio Pitcher donations to Mac H. as follows:
Mac Hardin
Minnetonka Rotary Club
12926 Rutledge Circle
Minnetonka, MN 55305
Rotary International Foundation
Please send your end of year donations to Chris Rosenlund as follows:
Chris Rosenlund
8672 Meadowvale Drive
Eden Prairie, MN 55347
Meeting Minutes - Scott B.
Meeting starts at 7:30
Guests
Nancy (Last name?) – a friend introduced by Nick Silva
Eric Bain introduced by Lenny
Scott Searl from ICA
Cozy Wittman (our guest speaker from College Inside Track)
Invocation
Phil H. read a great meditation reflection by Harold Kushner. A piece that provides light and humanity during these tough stressful times.
Pledge
Everyone.
4-Way Test
Everyone.
International Theme
Everyone. “The Magic of Rotary”
Announcements
Glen J: Saturday November 2 from 9:00 AM to Noon, will be a volunteer event with Bikes for Kids. This will be to help with the cleaning and refurbishing of used donated bikes to get them ready for distribution. Location (warehouse with 5,000 bikes) will be the old Dick’s Sporting Goods store near Ridgedale. There are different volunteer roles (cleaning, prep, or mechanic) that can be signed up for online. Glen will be sending out an E-Mail soon with more details.
Bob H. and Mike G: Resource West needs donations of warm coats and hats and mittens for the upcoming season (kids K-12). Coats can be new or used, but hats and mittens should be new (waterproof as much as possible). Tracie has indicated she would be happy to take donated items from our meeting room to their facility. More info regarding other volunteer opportunities for our group will be forthcoming.
Jerald, Lenny, and everyone on the planning committee who helped with the Links and Libations event were recognized, and a check for $50,005 was presented to the Minnetonka Rotary Foundation (the goal was $50,000!). Thank you to everyone including sponsors.
New Member Induction
None this week.
Rotary Minute
None this week.
Raffle
The winning ticket belonged to Char. No luck on the draw.
Foundation Award Checks or Thank yous
Tony N.- presented a check for $1,000 to Scott Searl from ICA. Scott provided a brief update. Although they are primarily a food shelf (currently serving 1,000 families a month), they also help people find jobs, housing (assistance to keep people in their rental homes), and especially with kids – keeping them in school and in the school district. Food, jobs, and housing is what ICA is about.
Happy Bucks
Mac H. - Happy for a couple of reasons (? – I did not catch it all)
Mark M. – 9 Happy bucks – 8 for those who helped with the Highway 7 cleanup, the 9th for the Gophers beating UCLA.
Ryan R. – 5 happy bucks: 1 for the Highway 7 cleanup previously mentioned and for his kids being able to participate. A couple more for taking the girls deer hunting on this weekend, and another buck for Tony getting his truck ready to enable the deer hunting to happen.
Frank B. Went to Beaver Dam, WI for a HS reunion, Wayland Academy where he was a boarding student. It was a great time but tiring and emotional.
Chris R. (Zoom) – 16 happy bucks for his daughter’s 16th birthday.
Bob H. (Zoom) – tuning in from North Carolina. Celebrating 43 three years ago his son Michael was born. He is there in NC to see his grandson and daughter-in-law, and then going to Pinehurst for some golf.
Nate R. – A happy buck for a sign-off to the football season. His team finished 3-5. Big learning experience; first time for contact (tackling, etc.) for many of the kids. Overall, a good year and experience. The last game was a grueling 6-0 loss to an Edina team.
Program
Today’s speaker: Cozy Wittman of College Inside Track (Introduced by Sara E.)
Cozy helps families and their prospective college students in high school with navigating the complex college selection and application process, and particularly with making them knowledgeable with the cost of college which has risen significantly in recent years. There have been significant changes to the college search process, especially since COVID. She is about sharing transparency – has been doing this for 20 years and stresses the importance of families and their student finding the right fit (academic, social, and financial).
Flagship state schools’ costs have gone up more than the national average. As examples she gave figures for the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, University of Iowa, and University of Michigan. Minnesota has gone up 570% over the past 30 years. Some schools (such as U of Connecticut) have gone up as gone up 1300% over the past time period. Michigan is especially expensive for an out-of-state student. The national average rise has been 213%. NYU for example is now $93,000 (per year).
Part of her assistance is her knowledge of the cost at different colleges and universities across the country, and which ones give aid and which ones do not. Many are flexibly priced, and some are not at all (both public and private). There is a perception by many that in most cases in-state public schools are the least costly. However, this is not necessarily true. Many parents are playing on a 1994 game board. The colleges, however, are playing on a 2024 board. As an example, she described how three of her children attended the University of Minnesota, Drake, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Of those, the University of Minnesota was the most expensive. Drake (private and out of state) was $10,000 less per year less than the University of Minnesota (for an in-state student).
Cozy described how some schools that are very highly selective (say 5% of applicants getting accepted) typically do not grant any aid as they do not have to. Duke last year for example had 54,000 applications for 1,700 spots. UCLA had 147,000 applications for 9,000 spots.
Other key takeaways:
Do not fall into the idea of your student needing to be “well rounded” in high school, i.e., many activities. If they are focused on what they love to do and do well at it, that is looked at better (quality over quantity).
Schools may be unique in what type of student they are looking for and where they are from. For example, a student from Minnesota may stand a good chance of getting accepted at a school out east if the school has few, if any Minnesotans enrolled.
She did not touch much on need based aid, such as the Minnesota North Star Promise Program, and so there may be opportunities there.
The best sources of scholarship dollars are from the colleges themselves. Some are good, others not at all.
Families need to realistically figure out what they can afford and seek out schools in that realm. Who is going to get you to the price you are looking for.
In the application process, look for merit-based aid in schools (if they have it).
Colleges are businesses. They judge their success by their own metrics. What is the student bringing for us?
GPAs in high schools are not always emphasized as much as people might think. Some high school GPAs are more artificially inflated than others, based on courses and availabilities. The trend now is that colleges are looking more at test scores than GPA’s.
There is a greater shift toward early decision. In the past it was used mainly by elite schools but is now spreading out to more public and private schools. Not necessarily good for families because it “locks you in” to that school – you are committed, and so a school will not need to provide aid to get you to come. You better be OK with the sticker price.
Secondary factors for acceptance and cost – transcript rigor level, and demonstration in an essay.
Think of this as a business decision. You will likely be taking on debt. Changing schools (and majors) will add to the cost (and debt).
Summary: College search and application process is extremely stressful. Cozy helps families understand and navigate through this and make the process less stressful.