The College Solutions Blog

February 2, 2011

Yesterday I wrote a post that explored what types of schools enjoy the best graduation rates. If you missed it, here it is: Who Graduates In 4 Years? Today I’m sharing the 25 public universities where students enjoy the best chances of earning a diploma in four years. I pulled these figures off the federal database that goes by the...

January 10, 2011

When you look at the race of undergraduates attending the premiere state schools out here in California – UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD — Asian students dominate. At UCSD, for instance, 50% of undergrads are Asian. At UCLA and UC Berkeley the percentage of Asian undergrads are respectively 40% and 42%.  In contrast, whites represent 23% of the student body...

November 23, 2010

Most of the attention during this admission season is on high school seniors, which means transfer students often get lost in the shuffle. That’s a shame since a sizable number of college students end up transferring every year. According to special transfer student report from the National Association for College Admission Counseling, a third of students end up transferring to...

November 15, 2010

If you’ve been a regular visitor to my college blog, you know that college price tags are meaningless. A $50,000 college, for example, could cost some families less than a $25,000 school. More families in my state of California are beginning to realize this. I bet that’s why expensive private schools such as Whitman College, Colgate University and Swarthmore College...

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,...

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 14, 2010

I wanted to share a great federal resource today that can help you measure the campus safety at any college or university. All you need to do is visit the website of The Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool. (It’s a federal website, which explains the clunky name.) With the federal college safety tool, you can find statistics...

September 24, 2010

Last spring I bumped into a dad I know whose daughter had attended the same middle school as my son. I asked him where his daughter would be attending college in the fall and he said: She’s going to a community college. I was surprised because Rachel is a very bright girl. The dad explained, however, that his daughter didn’t...

August 29, 2010

If you hadn’t already noticed, this is college rankings month. US News & World Report, the big college rankings  gorilla, released its latest lists of the best liberal arts colleges and best universities earlier in August.  Forbes Magazine rolled out its best college list this month too and the Washington Monthly unveiled its picks for  best colleges a few days...