College Planning & Advising

 

The Special Education Department processes all requests for College Board accommodations during your child’s freshman year of high school. These accommodations are used for the PSAT, SAT, and AP exams.

To request accommodations, an online application must be submitted to the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) Accommodations Management System. Contact your child’s current case manager to begin this process.  Once you are approved for College Board accommodations, you will receive a Decision Letter with an SSD number.  This number is your accommodations ID number and you will need it to register online for any College Board exams.

Once you review the letter, please contact Siobhan McAvoy if you have any questions about the accommodations granted by the College Board. If you have any questions about a specific standardized test, please contact your child’s guidance counselor.

Please note that if your child has been approved for College Board Extended Time he/she must sit for the entire duration of the approved time. This is a College Board policy.

Please keep this letter in a safe place. You will need your child’s unique SSD number on the letter when registering for the above-mentioned exams.

 

 

 

If your student plans to take the ACT with accommodations you must first create an ACT web account and register for a test date. While completing the registration there will be a section to indicate that you would like to request testing accommodations for your child.

Upon completing the registration process, students will receive an email with instructions on how to work with a designated school official. Please forward a copy of this email to Regina Dosso, along with a signed Parent Consent Form,  so that we can communicate with the ACT on your child’s behalf.

After the paperwork has been submitted to ACT, a decision letter will be sent to the high school as well as to the email address that you provided to the ACT. Please note that it may take up to three weeks for a decision from the ACT.

Again, please keep the decision letter for future reference.

If your child has been approved for school-based testing, you will be notified of the testing dates and times as they are assigned by administration. If your child has been approved for Center-Based testing, you might receive an updated admission ticket from ACT indicating the approved accommodations.]

If you have any questions about the accommodations that were granted by the ACT please contact Regina Dosso. 

Please note that you must request test modifications each time that you register for the ACT. Each time you register, you must send the confirmation e-mail to Regina Dosso.

If you plan on requesting accommodations, please register as early as possible so that the Special Education Department has enough time to gather the required documentation.

 

 

 

• Early Decision: Students apply in early fall of their senior year and are notified by the school in early to mid-December. If the student is accepted, a commitment-to-attend is required along with the withdrawal of other college applications. A student can only apply to one college under Early Decision, as this is a binding agreement to attend. Not all schools have Early Decision plans. The most common ED deadlines are November 1st, 15th, and December 1st.
   
• Early Action: Similar to the early decision in that the application process is done earlier in the year, but the student is not committed to attend the institution if accepted. Students can apply to multiple colleges under Early Action. Most common EA deadlines are November 1st, 15th, and December 1st
   
• Single-Choice Early Action: Used by only a few selective schools. You can only apply to one college early, but the decision is not binding (i.e. Harvard).
   
• Restrictive Early Action: Used by only a few schools. This is non-binding, but these schools do not want the student to apply early decision anywhere else. 
   
• Regular Decision: Students apply to the college a bit later in the year with deadlines ranging from December 1st to March 1st. Students generally hear back from the schools in early April.
   
• Rolling Admission: A procedure by which admissions decisions are made on a continuous basis throughout the year. Students are notified within about 3-4 weeks after receipt of the completed application. Applying earlier in the year is best under this application type.

Each year, college admissions representatives visit Ardsley High School between September and November in the College and Career Center (CCC). Seniors are encouraged to meet admissions representatives when possible. Students must register for these visits beforehand in the Guidance Office. 

NCAA Eligibility

Eligibility Quick Reference Sheet

 

Many opportunities for financial aid are available online. You can search for financial aid information and look for scholarships that may be available to you based on factors such as special talent, community service, religion/ethnic/racial background, etc. Also, be sure to check each college’s financial aid website for a financial aid calculator specific to that college, as well as school-specific scholarship opportunities.

• College Board – Click on College Planning, then Pay for College for a financial aid calculator. This is also where you’ll find the CSS Profile On-line
   
• FinAid — Financial Aid Information
   
• On-line FAFSA (Free Application for Student Financial Aid)
   
• NYS Higher Education Corporation Services 
   
• Scholarship Opportunities (search by specific criteria)