The College Solutions Blog

November 28, 2009

College Drinking: Top Five Risk Factors Which college students are more likely to be problem drinkers? One of the three college blog posts that I wrote for CBSMoneyWatch this week shared the top five risk factors for college drinking.  I bet most people can guess that one of the biggest college drinking risk factors is a heavy Greek presence on...

November 24, 2009

I’m going to be surprised if the soaring level of college student loan debt doesn’t become a political issue. The number of student loan defaults and delinquencies are rising. The latest statistics on student loan delinquencies are shocking.  The Student Lending Analytics Blog just crunched the Federal Reserve numbers on student loan delinquencies and came up with these dreary stats: More...

November 22, 2009

Students at campuses across the University of California system rioted last week after the Board of Regents voted to increase undergraduate tuition by 32% next year. You can see video of the fee hike protest at UCLA here. I want to play devil’s advocate and suggest that tuition hikes at UCLA and the other UC campuses is a good thing....

November 20, 2009

Most families do not pay the sticker price for college.  In fact, most parents pay far below the published tuition. About two out of three full-time college students receive grants, otherwise known as scholarships, to attend school. If you just look at private institutions, the number who receive college scholarships is a whopping 80%. I obtained those figures by reading...

November 18, 2009

Wondering if you should apply for financial aid. Here’s the answer: Yes.  You should file for financial aid. During the past few hours, I heard that advice over and over. I was on the phone for a good part of the day interviewing financial aid experts for a story about the upcoming changes to the FAFSA or Free Application for...

November 12, 2009

Today I want to share with you a great new web site that can help you research colleges:  College Insight. College Insight has gathered detailed information on nearly 5,000 colleges and universities in this country. You can find statistics for any school on such topics as these: College affordability. Check out statistics on tuition and total cost of attendance, average...

November 8, 2009

When my daughter Caitlin was exploring colleges a few years ago, I worried that she would have to be more accomplished than the boys she was competing against to boost her college admission chances. As you’ll read in my college blog post for CBSMoneyWatch.com, Are Colleges Discriminating Against Girls, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is investigating whether private liberal...

November 4, 2009

What is the most expensive college in America? Sarah Lawrence College grabs the dishonors this year for having the highest price tag. Sarah Lawrence’s sticker price is $54,410. What I find most alarming about the price of Sarah Lawrence, however, is that dozens of other colleges and universities are charging nearly as much. It was just a few years ago...

November 3, 2009

Today I’ve invited Kristin White, an author and independent college counselor, to share with us some surprising facts about a growing phenomenon: the gap year.  Kristin wrote a new book on the subject that’s entitled, The Complete Guide to the Gap Year: The Best Things To Do Between High School and College. The gap year is a hot topic right...

October 22, 2009

For many families, college will be the second biggest expense they will ever face — right behind buying a house. Choosing colleges and figuring out how to pay for them is complicated, which is why students and parents often seek college advice from high school counselors. It’s typically difficult, however, for families who want meaningful college information to get much...