The College Solutions Blog

Valuable insights from Lynn O’Shaughnessy
a nationally recognized college expert.

A College Scholarship Scare

Here’s another victim of the stubborn recession: College scholarships. A recent article in The New York Times concluded that students hoping to win college scholarships are going to experience a much harder time. The newspaper cites dwindling support from corporations, states and philanthropists as the culprits. While this is unwelcome news, I’d suggest that the reality is not as spooky...

Tuition Price Hikes for Private Colleges and Universities

If you are stressing about how to pay for your child’s bachelor’s degree, the news today from an association of private colleges and universities isn’t going to make you break out the champagne at dinner tonight. In a self-congratulatory press release, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, announced that the average tuition increase among private colleges and universities...

Troubles at Harvard

When my husband returned last week from a business trip on the East Coast, he brought home a copy of the Boston Globe that contained a story about layoffs at Harvard. Harvard is cutting loose 275 people and this comes on top of other recent cuts, including the postponement of an ambitious and very expensive campus expansion. If Harvard’s in...

College News On the Weekend

I wanted to share with you three college posts that I wrote this week for my other college blog at CBSMoneyWatch. Hope you enjoy them! 1. Shrinking Your Federal Student Loans A great federal program will begin this coming Wednesday that will provide relief to many borrowers who are struggling with repaying their federal student loans. 2. Declawing the FAFSA...

Exploring a College Gap Year

When I’m giving a college talk, I’m always amazed at how many parents ask me about college gap year opportunities. I’m surprised because I happen to be focused on getting my teenagers out of college in four years. It never occurred to me to delay the inevitable. That said, there legitimate reasons why teenagers and their parents might be interested...

A New and Improved FAFSA

Hallelujah. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is getting simplified. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced plans to make the FAFSA, which includes 135 questions on assets and income, more user friendly today. The news isn’t surprising. At his confirmation hearing, Duncan had this to say about the FAFSA form: “You basically have to have a Ph.D. to...

A Unique Arizona Plan to Cut College Costs

With state universities overflowing with students and applicants maybe this will be the wave of the future…. The president-elect of the Arizona Board of Regents, just released a report that urges the state’s three public universities — University of Arizona, Arizona State and Northern Arizona University — to launch programs that would allow its students to spend three years at...

Getting Help with Math Homework

I’m lousy at math. As my son and daughter started venturing into analytic trigonomtry, precalculus and then calculus, I was utterly useless as a resource. For parents, whose children need help with math homework, there is now a remarkable resource available that is making math teachers across the country both excited and nervous. It’s called WolframAlpha. WolframAlpha, which was released...

Weekend College Blog Roundup

Today I’m providing links to the three posts that I wrote this week for CBSMoneyWatch.com where I also write about college. Hey, why be a slave to one time-consuming college blog when you can have two?? 1. Three-Year College Degree In this post, I wrote about what may be a nascent trend — the three-year college degree. Since I’ve been...

Blaming College Students for Not Graduating in Six Years

I know a bunch of parents who expect their teenagers to graduate from college in four years. Many of them are dreaming. Forty percent of students can’t even graduate from college in six years! Colleges and universities often blame students for this dismal record. But if it’s the kids who are slackers, how come schools with similar academic profiles experience...