College Connections

An exploration into how your college education will be paid for. Have you looked into federal and state grants and scholarships that can help offset your college costs? Will you need to consider college loans? Do you have any savings? Will your parents, family or others potentially be helping you with your college expenses? Will you have income form a part or full-time job that could potentially help with your college costs? There are many options to finance your education, but you have to have a plan for this.

Have you thought about or conducted any research into which area, out-of-the-area college or out-of-state colleges has the major that you are interested in? We can help you explore this further.

If you definitely know what you want to study, great! However, if you’re undecided, you can take career interest inventory tests that can assess what factors should be included in a job you wish to perform in your career. Then, your career interests can be aligned with college majors that will be the best fit for you.

To chart your career’s pathway, you need to examine your career goals, the skills you have or will obtain, the knowledge you need to possess, the experience you need to acquire and factor in your personal characteristics. College Connections staff can engage you in this conversation so that you can understand what its going to take for you to accomplish in order to pursue your career.

College Connections staff can help you understand the value of working with your college’s academic advisement staff to ensure that you choose classes that are going to fulfill your degree requirements. This will help you avoid wasting your time and money on irrelevant classes. Staff can also show you the required courses for your major and let you know about the ‘academic rigor’ that your major will require.

Many EOC students have attended high school in a foreign country, and they’d like to know if their diploma can help them in the college admissions process in the U.S. College Connections staff can examine your credential and provide you with guidance on whether your credential can help you with college admission. For those who obtained their diploma overseas, staff can inform you if your diploma is the equivalent of what you need for college enrollment in the U.S. For individuals that have some overseas college experience, staff can inform you on how to get those educational experiences evaluated to determine if they can help you with U.S. college admission.

Today’s colleges and universities require that prospective students complete an online application to be considered for college admission. College Connections staff assist individuals complete their applications and get them submitted. Staff can advise you about completing college essays.

Oftentimes, college admissions offices will request additional information from you to help them make their admissions decision (e.g. residency, citizenship status, household composition and income verification, etc). College Connections staff can help you complete and submit this information, when requested.

College Connections conducts workshops for EOC students on various topics that will help you be more successful. Topics include: time management, study skills, how to get good grades in college, how to write a college paper, etc) among others. College-interested individuals can register to participate in these sessions whenever they are scheduled.

Two-year community colleges generally require that you take a placement test to help them determine which math and language courses you should start with when you enroll in classes. Staff can also advise you how to prepare for placement testing beforehand.

Federal and NYS grant funds are available for students to apply for to help lower the cost of their college expenses. These grants do not have to be repaid. College Connections staff will assist you with completing your aid applications. Staff will also inform you of other sources of funding to help lower your college expenses (e.g. College Work Study, College-Provided Scholarships).

Another source of funding to help lower your college costs are external scholarships. College Connections staff will inform you how to research and identify other scholarship sources that can help you with your college cost provided you meet certain eligibility requirements.

College loans are another source of funding to help you lower your college expenses. The federal government makes loans available to students if their free grant aid doesn’t cover their college expenses. Loans have to be repaid. Staff can inform individuals how to apply for these loans. If you have previously defaulted on a federal student loan, staff can inform you of programs on how to become re-eligible to apply for federal financial if you have previously defaulted on a federal college loan.

College Connections provides an array of services to individuals from the community who are not students at the Educational Opportunity Center (EOC). As a service to the wider community, College Connections provides a number of services. College Connections can work with area agencies conduct group presentations to college-interested individuals. Agency staff can contact College Connections to coordinate these activities. Individuals can contact College Connections via email (olivergl@buffalo.edu) or telephone at (716) 645-1910. 

College Connections staff can help college-interested individuals from the community understand the value of working with a college’s academic advisement staff to ensure that they choose classes that are going to fulfill their  degree requirements. Understanding this will help students avoid wasting time and money on unnecessary classes. Staff can also show students the required courses for their major and let them know about the ‘academic rigor’ their major requires. For more information, contact College Connections at 716.645.1910 or at olivergl@buffalo.edu

Federal and NYS grant funds are available for students to apply for to help lower the cost of their college expenses. These grants do not have to be repaid. College Connections staff can assist those from the community understand how to complete their financial aid applications. Staff can also provide information about other sources of funding to help students lower their college expenses (e.g. College Work Study, College-Provided and other Scholarships and  Loans). For more information, contact College Connections at 716.645.1910 or at olivergl@buffalo.edu