The College Solutions Blog

November 5, 2010

Studying for the SAT or ACT isn’t fun. But Grockit is trying hard to make it entertaining. Grockit, whose motto on its homepage is “Get addicted to studying,” bills itself as a social networking site for learning. With Grockit, teenagers can improve their test skills, in part, by learning from and competing against thousands of other students. They can earn...

November 4, 2010

I’m not surprised by much that I read about the higher-ed world, but even I was amazed at how quickly private colleges are blowing by the $50,000 price tag. After crunching College Board data, The Chronicle of Higher Education has published a list of the nation’s 100 top colleges by price, which all cost at least $50,000. Two years ago,...

November 2, 2010

Do you know what a reach school is? I’ve been surprised recently to find out that many parents and teenagers don’t understand what the term means. I discovered just how elusive a concept it is during college talks that I occasionally give at high schools and other settings. When I ask, “Who knows what a reach school is?” I usually...

November 1, 2010

Has your teenager received flattering email or literature from universities or even VIP college applications from schools that are already prefilled? If your child has gotten any of these communications, let me make this quite clear, it doesn’t mean anything. Despite all the collegiate flirting, the schools may not be interested in your child. Flattering College Email I wanted to...

October 31, 2010

College costs continue to rise (surprise, surprise), according to the latest statistics released by the College Board. The news is depressing, but not as awful as you might assume. As I’ve discussed in previous college blog posts, roughly two-thirds of college students receive scholarships or other price breaks so the sticker prices are meaningless. 2010-2011 College Tuition Prices Type of...

October 28, 2010

I’ve gotten questions lately from parents whose children are being recruited by college coaches. I wanted to share the questions because it might help other families who are or will be navigating the Byzantine world of college athletics. I talked to Karen Weaver, my go-to-expert on college athletics. Weaver is the director of athletics at a Penn State campus and...

October 27, 2010

I periodically get emails from teenagers, who are freaking out because their parents plan to contribute little if anything to their college education. Many of these kids are from affluent families, who could afford to kick in far more than they are planning. I don’t understand parents with good paying jobs who have no problem dumping the entire college expense...

October 26, 2010

Yesterday I wrote a post about attending nearby colleges and universities. Here it is: Sticking Close to Home for College For students who are adventurous enough to explore colleges in other states, I wanted to mention a trend that I read about in The Chronicle of Higher Education a couple of days ago. More private colleges and universities are relying...

October 25, 2010

I talked to a mom last week who wanted me to help her son find wonderful colleges that would would award him a scholarship, but her top priority is keeping him as close to home as possible. The San Diego mom wants him to attend a California college. She also seemed to rule out Northern California as too far away....

October 24, 2010

When I dropped my son Ben off at Beloit College (WI) in mid August, I left with a lot of questions. Would he adjust well to college? Could he handle his classes? Would he make friends?  And would he tell his mom or dad if the answers to any or all of the preceding questions were  “no.” The first positive...