COLLEGE COUNSELORS MAY have been more frantic than Santa’s elves this time of year as they hurried to get students’ supporting credentials mailed to colleges prior to the holidays for January deadlines. As students hustled and bustled in and out of my office with gifts of sweets and last-minute requests to send out their transcripts, I knew much of their work loomed ahead.

If seniors really heard the message reiterated by their college counselors, their applications either would be completed or in the final stages, and their essays would have been reviewed by their counselor and/or their English teacher. Yet I am a realist. I know teenagers are masters of the art of procrastination, and even though I have doggedly pursued those who have not shared their applications for my critique, there are seniors in my school and probably many more across the country who have saved this work for the holiday season.

I do not envy them. Completing a college application should be a process of self-discovery. The questions posed on many applications force students to reflect on who they were, are and hope to be. These are not easy tasks and certainly not ones that can be composed creatively the night before the deadline.

To last-minute senior applicants, I wish for the gift of cleverly crafted phrases and the foresight to enlist at least one adult proofreader.

To the panicked parents of the delinquent senior applicants, I wish for the gifts of patience (some students do work best under pressure!), of timely submission of applications and of reassurance by the countless number of colleges that have deadlines well beyond the first and 15th of January. Comprehensive lists of deadlines can be found in some college guidebooks, in the back of the U.S. News and World Report College Guide and on the Web at www.commonapp.org (click on “download forms,” which appears in the top bar and then on “grid only”). Of course, the best source for deadlines remains the colleges’ Web sites.

For those who have finished their applications, the work is not done. Jan. 1, 2009, will mark the first day in which the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) can be filed. Given the recession, more families will be applying for aid than ever before. As a result, it will be more imperative than ever to complete the FAFSA as soon as possible if a student intends to enroll in either a two- or a four-year college in the fall of 2009. The competition for federal, state and institutional aid will be fierce. Those who file early have the greatest chance of receiving the aid they need if they meet eligibility guidelines. A list of documents needed to complete the FAFSA can be found at www.fafsa.ed.gov along with a worksheet and other information about grants and loans.

For those families about to embark on the financial-aid process, I wish for the early completion of their taxes, their submission of the FAFSA by Feb. 1 (check deadlines of the colleges to which the student is applying) and the gift of being able to afford college when all is said and done!

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