Martin Luther College ParentsPage

March 2013

In This Issue

Month by Month: April

The Cost of Higher Education

Financial Aid Deadlines

First-year Parents!

First Year, Month by Month: April

We're still snow-covered, but we may just see daffodils come late April.

Temps: March was so cold that reporters called it Marchuary. It's a far cry from last March, which saw the mercury rocket to 80 degrees in New Ulm. Tentative forecasts call for high 50s and low 60s in April.

Course registration: While finishing those all-important final projects for this year, students must also choose their courses for next year. Some first-years, sophomores, and even a few juniors will change majors, and that's okay.

Housing lottery: Roommate changes are normal. Some younger students may have learned that rooming with their best friend did not work out the way they thought it would. Chock it up to experience.

Sports: Tennis, track, softball, and baseball keep many students busy.

Children's Theater: Who Can Fix the Dragon's Wagon? will be staged April 25-27. Lots of students have found a place on the cast and crew.

Summer plans: Students are beginning to think about summer employment, mission trips, and volunteer opportunities, many of which will provide early ministry experience.

The Cost of Higher Education

Here are the numbers. Two-thirds of college students must take out loans. Their average debt at graduation is $26,000. The cost of college has risen faster in the last decade than the cost of medical care or gasoline. And college debt has now surpassed credit card debt in America.

It's astounding. Maybe even a little frightening. What about MLC? Although the cost of attendance at Martin Luther College has also risen, MLC has kept its cost at less than half the average American private college.

Vice President for Administration Steven Thiesfeldt has researched the data to help parents understand the issue and plan for the future. Read to learn:

What is the high tuition/high aid model that some colleges use-and how can you be fooled by it?
How can you get a true picture of a college's cost-not the "sticker price," but the actual number you'll write on your check?
How has MLC been hit by a "double whammy" that has forced its costs up?
In spite of economic challenges, how does MLC keep their annual sticker price so low-less than half of the average private college?
What is MLC's strategy to keep student costs low and student debt manageable?
What can you expect to pay next year for tuition and room and board at MLC?

Read "The Cost of Higher Education" by Vice President Steven Thiesfeldt.

Financial Aid Deadlines

Mr. Gene Slettedahl, Director of Financial Aid

April 15, 2013, is the deadline if you wish your student to be considered for an MLC grant for next fall. Please be sure that you do the following by April 15:

Complete the MLC Financial Aid Application and submit it to the MLC Financial Aid Office.
Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Submit your FAFSA electronically on the web. Helpful hint: Use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, and your tax return information will automatically be imported.

If you do not meet the April 15 deadline, you may still be eligible for federal and state financial aid, but you will not be eligible for MLC grants.

Please note: If your taxes cannot be completed by April 15, please estimate the FAFSA tax questions. Then, when you do complete your taxes, you can update the FAFSA, or simply send your tax information to the MLC Financial Aid Office, and we will update it for you.

Did you know? More than 90% of MLC students receive financial aid in the form of grants, scholarships, or loans. Many students, approximately 65% of those who apply, receive MLC need-based grants even though they may not be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant. For more information, go to our website.

Creating Clubs

Anchor service club held a fundraiser for education called Cash for the Stache

Did you know your students can create a cluband receive funding for it? Now is the time for them to apply for "official club status" through the Student Senate. Approval will bring them;support and funding. Clubs should be open to thestudent body and in some way enhance student life. Recently formedclubs include the Green Club and the Anchor Service Club.

Mark Your Calendars for April 6!

Groundbreaking for New ECLC!

We would love to see you at the groundbreaking for our new Early Childhood Learning Center. Mark your calendars for April 6 at 10 am, at the corner of North Highland and Fifth North Street.

Our ECLC is a functioning preschool that also operates as a training center for future early childhood teachers. But it is too small. WELS needs more early childhood directors and teachers, and more MLC students are choosing early childhood education as their major, but our current center cannot handle all these student teachers. A new ECLC is absolutely necessary.

Is your son or daughter enrolled as an ECE major? Does your church operate an early childhood ministry? Are you interested in how MLC's newest building will support the sharing of the gospel? Then please watch our video, learn more, or give a gift toward this important project here.

And we hope to see you at groundbreaking!