The College Solutions Blog

December 25, 2011

Want to take your mind off college for the holidays? I don’t blame you. Here’s my suggestion to do just that. Sit back and listen to some fascinating lectures from some of the most intriguing people on the planet. You can find countless lectures by visiting the website of TED, a nonprofit which originally got its name by bringing together...

December 22, 2011

Does a winning college football team make it’s students stupid? Maybe. At least the men. That’s the conclusion you could reach after reading a study released right at the beginning of the college bowl season by economists at the University of Oregon. The researchers examined the grade point averages of the student body at the University of Oregon and compared...

December 21, 2011

If you plan to apply to college as a stealth applicant listen up. Stealth applicants are teenagers who never contact a college before sending in their application. Stealth college applications used to be rare.  Most teenagers contacted colleges through traditional means such as requesting materials, talking to admission counselors at college fairs and visiting schools. Today, however, teenagers can learn...

December 20, 2011

What is the best way to ace your final exams? This is a timely question as millions of high school and college students are taking their final exams. You might assume that reading textbooks and notes over and over again is the best way to study, but researchers from Purdue and Washington University insist that it’s not the best approach....

December 19, 2011

Last week our son Ben called the house wanting to know if we wanted to Skype. We usually call him every Sunday to find out how he’s doing so whenever he contacts us it’s a big surprise. His primary reason for calling was to share with us how hard he was studying for his math final exam. He ended up...

December 15, 2011

There are many websites that you can research the financial aid practices of individual schools. Today I’m going to focus on an especially helpful site — the federal College Navigator. The College Navigator is not flashy, but it contains incredible tools that tap into the US Department of Education’s vast college database. The College Navigator provides information on individual schools...

December 13, 2011

In my last post, I promised to share some resources that can help you evaluate the generosity of colleges and universities. If you missed it, here is that post: Sniffing Out Financial Aid Awards Today I’m going to focus on the College Board’s website, which is a quick and easy resource for anyone interested in getting financial aid statistics on...

December 12, 2011

This week I’m going to focus on some financial aid nuts and bolts. I want to address one of the questions that puzzle families the most:  Will a college award my child any money? Most parents have no clue how to answer this question. In fact, they usually don’t find out if a college is willing to kick in some...

December 9, 2011

Below you’ll find a guest blog written by Bob Bessette, the father of a junior at Bowdoin College in Maine, who is finishing up her semester of studies in Ireland.  I was particularly interested in his post because my son Ben, who is a sophomore at Beloit College, plans to attend school  in Ireland for a semester during his junior...

December 8, 2011

If your child will be heading to college next fall, now is the time to prepare for applying for financial aid. Your first step is to know what type of financial aid applications you will have to complete. Students won’t be eligible for financial aid unless they complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA. Filling out the...