The College Solutions Blog

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

Getting Rejected by Harvard

The Ivy League schools sent out their acceptance letters this week and most students who had dreamed of going to these universities and other highly selective schools are disappointed. I’m going to share the experience of one highly accomplished girl during this admission season to illustrate why you need to cast a wide net when applying to colleges. The girl,...

5 Ways to Increase Your Financial Aid Award

Note: Yesterday I promised that I’d share this post that I wrote last year when my son, who is currently finishing up his freshman year in college, was awaiting his financial aid awards. It’s a timely subject since so many families are routinely disappointed at the financial aid awards they are receiving. Student aid letters are hitting mailboxes across the...

Getting Your Financial Aid Award Verdict

I’ve been hearing from parents of high school seniors lately who are either elated by their financial aid awards or utterly depressed. Here are some examples: A dear friend of mine is thrilled because her son Geoffrey received a very large need-based aid package to Macalester College, which is where he is heading in the fall. (Gosh, I just love...

The Hazards of Dreaming About Colleges

This is an excerpt of a post that I wrote for my college blog at CBS MoneyWatch last week after attending the biggest annual college fair in San Diego. You can read the entire post here: What’s Wrong With America’s Dream Colleges When I looked at The Princeton Review’s newly released lists of America’s most popular dream colleges, Iimmediately saw...

6 Things You Need to Know About College Loans

I’ve been getting emails from parents lately who are stressed out because the financial aid packages that they’ve received for their high school seniors are terribly inadequate. On the flip side, I’ve been getting effusive emails from parents who did a great job of matching their kids with the sort of schools that would give them the best aid packages...

Parents Borrowing for College

Are you a parent looking for a college loan? Most of the press attention is focused on college loans that students take out, but there are parent loans as well. Today, I’m going to focus on PLUS Loans and home equity lines. PLUS Loan For parents, the federal government offers PLUS Loans. At first blush, the terms won’t look so...

Can Facebook Hurt My Admission Chances?

Can Facebook hurt a teenager’s chances of getting accepted to colleges? Specifically can the stuff that students post on Facebook impact their chances? Unigo, the popular college research website, recently posed that question to admission experts from around the country. Unigo offered to share some of the responses with my college blog visitors. You can find the rest of the...

My College Blog’s New Look!

If you’ve visited my college blog in the past, you probably did a double take today. Yes, The College Solution looks dramatically different. And all I can say to that is THANK GOODNESS! I had grown sick of the old look last year, but it required a lot of work before the launch day for the new site finally arrived....

Stafford Loans: Borrowing for College

It’s that time of year when parents, as well as new and returning college students, start thinking about college loans. Consequently, today I want to answer a few questions about Stafford Loans, which are the most popular federal student loans. Here are the questions: Question No. 1: Are there different kinds of Stafford Loans? Yes. There are unsubsidized Stafford...

Making the Most of a College Campus Tour

The college visit season is in full swing. High school seniors are fanning out across the country to check out colleges for the last time before they make their big decision. Visiting campuses during spring break is an annual tradition, but some collegiate suitors are trying to make their campus tours for accepted students more meaningful while distinguishing themselves from...