The College Solutions Blog

October 6, 2011

Filing for financial aid can be more complicated when the parents are divorce. A Divorced Dad From Massachusetts I thought I’d bring this up because of an email that I received from a divorced dad from Massachusetts, who has not remarried. He makes about $100,000 a year and doesn’t own a home. His ex-wife did remarry and she and her...

October 5, 2011

If you do poorly on the SAT or ACT, you can always apply to colleges and universities that are test optional. It’s been awhile since I wrote about this subject and you can find the link to a previous post below, but today I want to share with you a new twist to the trend. Getting Into Great Schools With...

October 4, 2011

A website that focuses on college issues recently asked me a few questions that parents and teenagers commonly ask or wonder about. I decided to share the questions and my answers with you today. Here goes: At what stage should you prepare for college? Teenagers can start preparing for college at the beginning of high school — really before that...

September 28, 2011

College Admissions: The Rich Kid Advantage A new ambitious survey of hundreds of senior college admission officials from across the country has revealed just what kind of high school students are in big demand:  R-I-C-H kids. It’s no surprise that admission officers at both public and private colleges and universities are salivating over wealthy teenagers. Their parents have the money...

September 20, 2011

I received an email yesterday from a friend of mine whose son is a brilliant high school senior. She wanted to know what they should think about invitations her son has received to apply to colleges through VIP or priority applications. Here is her question: My son has received approximately 10+ email/print invitations from schools to complete their priority applications....

September 16, 2011

Since it’ SAT/ACT season, I wanted to run a guest college blog post by Robert Levine, who graduated from the University of Miami with a BA in Finance.  He is currently serving as an SAT tutor for ParliamentTutors in Miami, FL. FYI: If you missed my SAT post from yesterday, here it is: The Latest Lousy SAT Results Just how...

September 15, 2011

The College Board released its latest SAT results this week and the scores were underwhelming. The average SAT reading score reached its lowest point in nearly four decades. The combined reading, math and writing score of 1500 out of a possible 2400 was six points below 2010’s results and 18 points off 2006. If you’re wondering how your teenager compared...

September 14, 2011

Do you have to visit a college before you apply? It’s always better if you arrange a college tour and spend quality time at schools before finalizing your list, but financially it’s often not possible. There are things you can do, however, to help you assess whether a college would be a great match while at the same time letting...

September 8, 2011

If you missed it, I wrote a post earlier in the week about applying early decision to colleges: The Odds of Applying Early Decision I assumed this post would lead to more questions on this issue and sure enough I got an email from a mom with a question that I thought was worth sharing with you. Here is what...

September 7, 2011

For many years I was a financial journalist and in that role I became extremely cynical about how Wall Street and the rest of the financial industry operated. After I switched  to writing about the higher-ed world, I became just as cynical about the practices of colleges and universities. I bring this up today because of a report just released...