October 2026 Newsletter

Your student's October, grade by grade. Plus a free 30-minute Q&A on Oct 15 and The Real Price Master Class on Nov 19.

Stepping Stones College Educational Advisors The Monthly · Oct 2026 October 2026 October is when the year gets decided, quietly. Hi, The FAFSA opened on October 1. The UC application is open. The first early deadlines arrive mid-month, and November 1 follows close behind. For seniors, October is the month the early round is won or lost. For everyone else, it is the month that quietly sets up next year — the activity audit, the testing plan, the first honest conversation about cost. This issue gives you three things: a dated plan for your student's grade, two free live sessions where you can put your own questions to me, and one idea from this month's blog that I think changes how most families spend the next six months. In this issue ◆ Ask Roman — a free 30-minute live Q&A, starting Thursday, October 15 ◆ The Real Price — our next free Master Class, Thursday, November 19 ◆ Your student's October and November, grade by grade ◆ Stop Joining 10 Clubs — what admissions readers look for on page two Free live Q&A · Small group Ask Roman Every other Thursday · 5:00–5:30 PM Pacific / 8:00 ET Live on Zoom · For parents of high schoolers · No cost Thirty minutes, no slides, no pitch. You bring the question that has been sitting on the kitchen table, and I answer it live. I have written the recommendation letters, built the master schedule that decides which classes a senior can take, and sat beside the counselor carrying four hundred students. Ask me what that looks like from the other side of the desk. Thu Oct 15 The fall, in order What to do first, what can wait, and what most families do backwards. Thu Oct 29 Early deadlines, three days out Last-week questions on ED, EA and the November 1 push. Thu Nov 12 What college will actually cost Net price, aid letters and borrowing — a week before The Real Price. Save my seat for Oct 15 → Have a question already? Reply to this email with it. I read every one and answer the most-asked at the start of the session, by first name only. Our next free Master Class The Real Price: what college will actually cost your family Thursday, November 19, 2026 · 5:00–6:00 PM Pacific / 8:00 ET · Live on Zoom · Grades 9–12 · Free Families remove schools from the list every fall on a number that was never their number — the sticker price. And this year, the borrowing assumption underneath many plans changed: Parent PLUS loans first taken on or after July 1, 2026 are capped at $20,000 a year and $65,000 per student. One hour, built on the R.E.A.L. Framework™, in the order a family can actually answer it: R · Reality What will this school actually charge us? Every college that takes federal aid must publish a net price calculator. We run one live. E · Eligibility The FAFSA and the CSS Profile side by side, and the two beliefs that cost families more than any technical detail. A · Award How to read an aid letter, the six lines that make two offers comparable, and how an appeal actually works. L · Loans What changed on July 1, the current rates, and the arithmetic that turns an annual figure into a monthly payment. You leave with your grade's money calendar, dated, and a written thirty-day plan. Register even if Thursday evening is difficult — the replay goes to everyone who signs up. Register free for Nov 19 → Your game plan What October and November look like, by grade Find your student's year. Each line has a date on it, because a plan without dates is a wish. Class of 2027 · Seniors The month the early round is decided ◆ Now: file the FAFSA — it opened October 1. Check whether any school on the list also requires the CSS Profile, and what its priority date is. ◆ By Oct 15: make the ED / EA decision — which school, and separately whether a binding ED is financially survivable. Run that school's net price calculator before you sign anything. ◆ By Oct 25: supplements for November 1 schools finished, a week early, not the night before. ◆ Nov 1: most Early Decision and Early Action deadlines. Confirm each on the college's own site. ◆ Nov 30: the UC filing window closes. One window, one deadline, no late option. Finish the Personal Insight Questions before Thanksgiving. Class of 2028 · Juniors The year the list gets built ◆ October: sit the PSAT at school. National Merit runs off the junior-year administration only. ◆ By Oct 23: if the testing plan calls for a fall score, register for the November 7 SAT. ◆ By Oct 31: write the family's five non-negotiables, then a draft list of 15–20 names. Non-negotiables first. ◆ By Nov 15: run the net price calculator on five of those schools. The money result shapes the list — and the list shapes the testing plan. ◆ This fall: pick the one interest thread worth turning into a 90-day project. That is what fills page two next year (see the blog below). Class of 2029 · Sophomores The year course rigor is decided ◆ October: take the PSAT if your school offers it, purely for the baseline. ◆ By Oct 31: run a Keep / Deepen / Drop / Explore audit on every activity. Cut at least one thing. ◆ By Nov 15: have the first real college conversation — not a list, a set of preferences. ◆ Before spring registration: check math placement. It decides which courses are possible in senior year. Class of 2030 · Freshmen The only year with room to spare ◆ October: read the first progress report together. Find the one class at risk while it is still cheap to fix. ◆ By Oct 31: start a running activity log. Twenty minutes now saves a weekend of guessing in junior year. ◆ By Nov 15: meet one teacher during office hours. The habit matters more than the meeting. ◆ This fall: try five or six activities, genuinely. Not twelve. 8th grade and younger The quiet head start ◆ Ask the middle school which math course leads to which high school sequence. It is the earliest decision that limits senior year. ◆ Let your student follow one interest deeply for a season. Depth is a habit, and it starts long before page two exists. Not sure what your grade's list should look like this month? That is exactly what the October 15 session is for. Bring your question on Oct 15 → Mark the calendar Every date between now and December Confirm deadlines against each college's own admissions page — they move between cycles. Oct 1 The 2027–28 FAFSA and the UC application open. Some state and institutional aid is first come, first served. Oct 15 Ask Roman, first session. 5:00 PM Pacific, free. Save a seat. The first early deadlines also fall around this date. Oct 23 SAT registration deadline for the November 7 test. Oct 26 The Right List replay opens. Our September Master Class on building a balanced college list, free to watch. Request the replay. Oct 29 Ask Roman. Early deadlines, three days out. Save a seat. Nov 1 The big one. Most Early Decision and Early Action deadlines. Nov 12 Ask Roman. What college will actually cost. Save a seat. Nov 19 The Real Price Master Class. 5:00–6:00 PM Pacific, free. Register. Nov 30 The UC filing window closes for fall 2027 admission. Dec 5 The last SAT of the calendar year (registration closes November 20). The ACT follows on December 12. New on the blog Stop joining ten clubs An admissions reader moves through dozens of files a day. Ten slots of general membership do not read as ten strengths — they read as attendance. What readers look for on page two, the Activities section, is proof of work: something the student built, outside the classroom, that someone else can verify. The four-step pivot, for 10th and 11th grade ◆ Audit the list. Keep the two or three activities your student genuinely cares about. Drop the filler. ◆ Find the thread. The topic or problem they read, write and talk about when nobody assigns it. ◆ Define the deliverable. One project that can launch in three to six months — research, a tool, a publication, a local initiative. ◆ Document it. Logs, photos, numbers, a simple page. Proof that can be named on the application. Read the full post → Want help finding your student's thread? Bring it to Ask Roman — it is one of the most common questions I hear from parents of juniors. See upcoming sessions →   “The most expensive sentence I hear in April is: we took that school off the list because of the price. Most of the time the family never saw the real price. They saw the sticker. October is when that decision gets made, and it is the easiest one to make well.” Roman Bernard Fernando · Founder & Lead Advisor The full season Free Master Classes, through June Every class is one hour, live on Zoom, on a Thursday at 5:00 PM Pacific, with a replay for everyone who registers. Nov 19 The Real Price. What college will actually cost. Grades 9–12. Jan 28 The Application Advantage. Essays, activities and the application year ahead. Apr 22 The Spring Advantage. The testing plan and the junior spring. Jun 17 The Summer Advantage. Summer strategy and essay-season prep. See every class and date → Two free ways to get your question answered This month: Ask Roman, Thursday, October 15, 5:00 PM Pacific. Thirty minutes, your questions, live. Next month: The Real Price, Thursday, November 19, 5:00 PM Pacific. One hour on what college will actually cost your family. See both on the Events page → Know a parent who is carrying this alone? Forward this email. Both sessions are free, and every family is welcome. Roman Bernard Fernando Founder & Lead Advisor Stepping Stones College Educational Advisors Los Angeles · Orange County · Phoenix · Families nationwide Every Step Leads to Accepted™ steppingstonesadvisors.com P.S. If you only do one thing from this email, save a seat for October 15. It is thirty minutes, it is free, and the question you bring is the agenda. Stepping Stones College Educational Advisors, LLC · 8605 Santa Monica Blvd #968092, West Hollywood, CA 90069-4109 Questions: connect@steppingstonesadvisors.com · Text or call (714) 400-2497 Dates and policies in this issue were checked on October 1, 2026. Confirm each against the college's own admissions page before relying on it. Financial information in this issue and in The Real Price is educational, not financial, tax or legal advice. You are receiving this because you asked us about college planning for your student. Reply with “unsubscribe” and I will take you off the list — no hard feelings.