The College Solutions Blog

September 3, 2013

I received an email over the Labor Day weekend from a father named Mike, whose daughter is unsure about how to handle a typical questions on her college applications. Here is the common question: Why do you want to attend this college? After visiting 10 schools this summer the schools are beginning to blur to her.  At a few she...

August 30, 2013

Five days a week I start my day reading stories about the higher-ed world. First I digest articles from The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher. I also get links to a long list of higher-ed stories from around the country that somebody at the Lumina Foundation in Indianapolis must assemble early, early, early in the morning. Thanks to...

August 28, 2013

I created a slideshow for my college blog at CBS MoneyWatch today that shares 10 tips for writing a winning college essay. Minerva, my eight-year-old golden retriever, illustrates Tip. No. 3. Please check it out! LO I wrote the following post in August, 2011, but with college students heading back to school, I decided it was well worth running again....

August 21, 2013

According to the just released ACT scorecard for 2013 high school graduates, the composite ACT score has  dropped to its lowest level in five years. The latest composite ACT score is 20.9. That represents a .2 point drop from last year’s scores. The highest ACT score possible is a 36. Scores declined for all four tested areas – English, Reading,...

August 19, 2013

I want to thank everybody who offered advice to the single mom, who is anxious about her daughter’s college options. You can read all the comments and the original post here: A Mom Stressing About College Today I thought I’d offer my own suggestions about the options for this teenager, who thinks that she might want to be a teacher....

July 1, 2013

I received this email over the weekend from an anxious father that I wanted to share with you. The dad is having second thoughts about the school that he pressured his daughter to attend. He is already contemplating his daughter transferring next year to a different school. I think his story could generate some interesting discussions about rankings, price, graduate...

March 27, 2013

Many colleges do a horrible job of presenting their financial aid awards in an easy-to-understand way.  As I’ve been explaining in my last two posts, I believe this is largely intentional: What’s Wrong With This Financial Aid Letter Evaluating a Financial Aid Award Recognizing this shameful behavior, the federal government has created a financial aid template called the Shopping Sheet....

March 20, 2013

This is the season when colleges and universities are offering spurned applicants spots on their wait lists. I wanted to share this post that I wrote last year about wait lists.  I have updated the wait list statistics for the University of Notre Dame. Lynn O’Shaughnessy This weekend I heard from old friends who wanted to share with me stories...

March 15, 2013

If you require need-based financial, you should hunt for schools that are generous with their aid packages. This is the advice that I shared in my last college blog post: Where Is the Financial Aid Cash? If you didn’t read it, I’d suggest that you do before continuing on with this post. If money is an issue, students should be...

March 12, 2013

This is the time of year when students are receiving their financial aid awards. I’m sharing a letter today from a mom who is unhappy about financial aid letters that her son has been receiving. Lynn O’Shaughnessy Hi Lynn, I’m a parent relatively new to the financial aid process and I have a question.  Once you have completed the FAFSA...