10 Things About College That High School Counselors Don't Know

Yesterday I wrote this provocative post: Why High School Counselors Don’t Know Much About College.  Today I wanted to follow up with 10 things that the typical high school counselors doesn’t know. Here goes:

1. There are roughly 50 colleges and universities in the country that are no-loan schools, which means they meet a student’s financial aid need with grants that don’t have to be repaid.

2. Private scholarships are inferior to scholarships that college award themselves even the private scholarships are the ones that counselors often urge students to find.

3. College price tags are meaningless. The average tuition discount at private colleges is 33.5% and 15% at state universities.

4. They don’t understand the differences between the FAFSA and the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE.

5. Zinch and Cappex are helping to transform the way that colleges and teenagers find each other.

6. Graduation rates are abysmal at the vast majority of colleges and universities. Fewer than 60% of college students graduate in six years.

7. Because of low graduation rates at the typical public university, private colleges can be cheaper than public one for some students. Eighty percent of  students attending private schools have received a college scholarship from their institutions.

8. Not all state universities are alike in educating students, but successful ones tend to share certain characteristics.

9. Minority students often don’t have to be as talented to gain entry into the most elite colleges and universities, but Asian high school students are penalized.

10. Many out-of-state public universities will offer cheaper tuition to promising students through reciprocal agreements and other arrangements.

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution and she also blogs about college for CBSMoneyWatch.


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  1. I know this is an old post, but since it is still online, I’d love to see the info that was originally in all the hyper-links. It seems now, many of the hyper-links are dead.

  2. You mentioned Zinch and Cappex but not Kaarme.com which is preferred by parents and counselors because it is the only site that protects students and does not sell their personal information to third parties when they are searching for colleges or scholarships.