The College Solutions Blog

January 8, 2011

If you want to get into the movie industry, do you need to go to film school? That’s what I was wondering after two stressed dads, within the space a few days, emailed me about how they are going to pay for their teenagers’ dreams to attend a film school. Film schools tend to be located in extremely expensive universities...

January 7, 2011

After being knocked out for about 30 hours, my college blog is back online! I still am not sure what happened, but the host shut down my site after discovering what it termed “excessive activity.” This activity wasn’t coming from me. Someone might have been trying to break into my blog via WordPress and the host shut the whole thing...

January 5, 2011

In yesterday’s college blog post, I wrote about a dad who is wondering if he should take a CPA’s  advice and hide his home equity from colleges in an annuity. If you didn’t read the post, here it is: Dubious Financial Aid Advice: Hiding Home Equity After reading my post, Todd Weaver, a college consultant at Strategies for College, Inc.,...

January 4, 2011

It’s the time of year when families of high school seniors start worrying about their home equity and financial aid. That’s why I decided to share an email that I got yesterday from a father who was interested in using the services of a CPA who says he could hide his home equity from financial aid formulas. Here is the...

January 3, 2011

Of all the myths swirling around the college admissions process, the ones involving financial aid myths are probably the biggest whoppers. Financial aid misconceptions can easily hurt families, which is why parents with a working knowledge of financial aid will often have a greater chance of capturing price breaks. With the latest financial aid season just beginning, here are four...

January 2, 2011

Our family ushered in the New Year last night with our annual over-the-top holiday party. I haven’t counted up how many came, but it’s got to be over 80 people. My mega pot of George’s at the Cove’s signature soup is gone and so is the Corn, Red Pepper Leek Soup. The appetizer that vanished first was the Mini Asian...

December 29, 2010

Today I want to share a piece, which originally ran in the Washington Post, that was written by Dean P. Skarlis, who  is president of The College Advisor of New York in Albany. I liked what Skarlis had to say so much about today’s college admission climate that I asked if I could share it with you. According to the...

December 29, 2010

It’s going to be a hectic week for me because our family is having our annual holiday party and I’ll be making all the food for 80 people.  All I’ve gotten done so far is a mousse pate, puff pastry pinwheels and spicy pecans so I’ve got a lot to do. I will quickly share with you a post that...

December 27, 2010

If your child plans to study abroad while while in college, you need to prepare yourself. I wrote an blog post for CBS MoneyWatch that discusses what parents and students need to know about studying abroad based on the experience of my own daughter Caitlin, who attended the University of Barcelona for a year. You can find all the advice...

December 24, 2010

I’m giving everyone permission to stop thinking/stressing about college for the rest of the week. The holidays can be hectic enough without worrying about: Paying for college Financial aid Scholarships SAT/ACT So let’s all take a break. Today I’m making more Christmas cookies. Including one of my all-time favorite sweets –  Grasshopper Squares. If you love dark chocolate and mint,...