College & Careers: A Juggling Act

College-bound students can get face time with representatives from about 100 colleges during the Omaha Area College Fair. It’s Sunday, April 14, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Sapp Fieldhouse, 60th and Dodge Streets. Admission is free.

The college fair is sponsored by the EducationQuest Foundation in partnership with Omaha-area school counselors and the Nebraska Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers.

Kjersti Pollard didn’t have a clue what it would mean when she started taking out loans to finance a textiles and fashion design degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Nor was she too concerned about making more than a minimum payment each month when the $48,000 bill arrived after her 2013 graduation.

Choosing a college can be one of the biggest decisions in a person’s life.

With costs totaling somewhere between a used car and a small home, it can pay to slow down and think through a decision.

For college students like Thao Duong, clubs offer more than something fun to do between study hours. They help develop connections among peers who might not have met otherwise.

Duong found one such connection when she joined the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Hip Hop Dance Club. She grew up dancing in Vietnam but never really thought she had what it took to be a dancer. It was just something she liked to do.

You know you deserve that college scholarship, not to mention admission to the university you want to attend. But the people who sit on scholarship and admissions committees don’t.

That’s where letters of recommendation can give you an edge. And in some cases, they are required.

Michell Blodgett wasn’t interested in college.

After high school, she married and had children. She briefly attended graphic design classes at a community college, but academics still weren’t a good fit.

Students enter college with aspirations to work in jobs that will allow them to pursue their passions.

To fulfill these dreams, some students find it beneficial to pursue two majors. Others hope that double majoring will help them to stand out in an increasingly competitive job market.

Anita Walia’s daughter had always been an overachiever.

She made the girls varsity soccer team as a high school freshman, earned good grades in the most challenging courses at her private school and received high marks on standardized tests. So, when it came time to apply to colleges in fall 2017, she felt ready. But she wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

The College Board, which owns the influential Advanced Placement program, is adding new fees to AP testing and asking students taking the tests to sign up months earlier.

Some college admissions counselors say the changes could hurt them and their students.