The College Solutions Blog

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

The Cal Grant Disaster

Gov. Schwarzenegger has proposed putting the 50-year-old Cal Grant program on the chopping block. This would be a disaster for more than 200,000 students. According to The Institute for College Access & Success, these students would lose anywhere from $576 to $9,708 a head this fall. To save roughly $250 million, the governor would eliminate all Cal Grants, which students...

The Demise of State Student Loan Programs

A year ago I remember telling my nephew, who wants to be a police officer, about a fabulous deal for students who hoped to major in criminal justice. The state of Missouri was so eager to encourage its young people to become cops that it was practically giving away loans with a miniscule interest rate of .5%. Students who wanted...

Mediocre College Advice from High School Counselors

Many parents are frustrated that they can’t get face time with the college counselor at their teenager’s high school. All too often families can’t meet with a counselor until the spring of their child’s junior year. By then overworked counselors are finished with their latest batch of seniors and they are ready to devote their attention to the juniors. What...

Studying for the SAT: Is It Worth It?

Will students who take SAT prep courses increase their test scores? To me the answer is obvious. Of course, you can boost your test scores through SAT preparation. Both of my children have benefited by attending an SAT prep course, My daughter’s score jump ed by at least 120 points. And my son, who just got his SAT scores back,...

Going to College on an Athletic Scholarship

My biggest regret after finishing my book, The College Solution, was that I didn’t include a chapter about athletic scholarships. With the book’s deadline looming, I decided to skip writing about college sports scholarships. When my book goes into a second printing, I’ll be sure to add one. I was reminded about my omission today during the most unlikely of...

A Lucky College Degree

Today I’d like to share a 65-year-old story that illustrates the power of a college degree, as well as the kindness of two priests, who recognized the intellectual potential of a poor Irish kid from St. Louis. It’s a sweet story about my father, Vincent Patrick O’Shaughnessy, who is dying of pancreatic cancer. As I sit at his bedside, this...

Private Student Loans: I’d Rather Kiss a Boiling Radiator

Anybody who has been reading my college blog for awhile probably knows my opinion of private student loans. For those who don’t understand why they should stay away from these lenders, I’d suggest you visit my other college blog (Gosh it can be exhausting writing two!) at CBSMoneyWatch.com. If you check out my recent private loan post, you’ll understand why...

A Baby SAT Test Bites the Dust

How would you like your kid to take a pre-pre-pre SAT test? The College Board thought this would be a ducky idea. So last fall the testing juggernaut announced that it was going to inflict a baby SAT on — get this — middle schoolers. “This is not a pre-pre-pre SAT,” a College Board VP insisted at the time, but...

When College Tuition is Too Cheap

College students and their parents hate to see tuition increases. So why are students at the University of Florida, Florida State, the University of Montana and elsewhere clamoring for tuition hikes? Here’s a clue: When universities are starved for cash, academic quality shrinks and students eventually notice. That’s what has been happening at state universities in Florida. According to an...

Lowering the Cost of College Textbooks

You don’t need to read this blog post to know that the prices of college textbooks are obscene. Amazon.com, however, is aiming to change this. I wrote a post about Amazon’s efforts to crack the electronic textbook market with its launch of the Kindle DX at my other college blog at CBSMoneyWatch.com. On that post I also explain why college...