The College Solutions Blog

January 21, 2011

When I ask teenagers what they want to major in, I’m never surprised when many of them respond this way: I want to be a business major. The most popular college major in America is business. According to federal statistics,  21% of undergrads leave college with a business degree. That statistic drives me nuts. Contrary to conventional wisdom, students don’t...

January 20, 2011

During the holiday break, my daughter Caitlin was networking back home in San Diego in hopes of laying the groundwork for getting a job when she graduates in May. One of the entrepreneurs whom Caitlin talked to suggested that she pursue her fledgling business – Something Sunny. With seed money from the state of Pennsylvania and Juniata College, Caitlin launched...

January 18, 2011

Do undergrads learn much in college? Many students don’t. That’s the conclusion of a new book that’s got the higher-ed world buzzing today. The book is Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, which was published by the University of Chicago Press. A pair of professors at New York University and the University of Virginia wrote the book based on...

January 17, 2011

American colleges and universities are continually getting slammed for costing too much, but there are precious few people suggesting concrete ways to shrink these costs. The Center for College Affordability and Productivity, however, has produced a white paper that lays out: 25 Ways to Reduce the Cost of College There are some excellent suggestions on the center’s list. What do...

January 17, 2011

I wanted to share an email that I got recently from Mark Couch, an assistant professor of philosophy and director of the Liberal Studies Program at Seton Hall University. He was reacting to a post that I wrote for my CBS MoneyWatch college blog. I thought what the philosophy professor had to say was worth sharing because too many parents...

January 14, 2011

I gave a presentation on Shrinking the Cost of College last night on CollegeWeek Live. I talked for about 30 minutes from my office and then I answered questions from the audience. Here are some of the topics that I covered: Where you can find the greatest source of college grants. How you can improve your chances of getting college...

January 13, 2011

Do you have financial aid questions? If you do, head over to the college blog at The New York Times. This week Mark Kantrowitz, a financial aid guru and the publisher of FinAid and FastWeb, is answering people’s questions about financial aid. So far, Kantrowitz  has answered three rounds of questions that you can read here: Part 1: Answers to...

January 12, 2011

If  your teenager is hoping to attend a state university in California, brace yourself. The grim financial challenges consuming the University of California and the California State University systems, as well as the state’s huge community college system are of historic proportions. Remember the student protests at UC Berkeley, UCLA and elsewhere last year? I think things could get much...

January 11, 2011

Yesterday I wrote a post on Asian parenting after reading a disturbing essay in the Wall Street Journal that was written by a Yale law professor/mother, who admitted to calling her daughter “garbage” and demanding that her children be No. 1 in academics. Here is my original post: Asian Students At UCLA, UCSD and UC Berkeley: The Price of Success?...

January 10, 2011

When you look at the race of undergraduates attending the premiere state schools out here in California – UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD — Asian students dominate. At UCSD, for instance, 50% of undergrads are Asian. At UCLA and UC Berkeley the percentage of Asian undergrads are respectively 40% and 42%.  In contrast, whites represent 23% of the student body...