The College Solutions Blog

May 17, 2011

Yesterday I shared the news that my daughter Caitlin graduated from college this week. And she did it in four years, which is a rare feat for today’s college students. If you missed the post here it is: Caitlin Graduates from Juniata College Today, I wanted to share what I wrote for my college blog over CBS MoneyWatch that mentions...

May 15, 2011

My daughter Caitlin graduated from Juniata College this weekend! It just seemed like yesterday that we had arrived at this beautiful campus for freshmen orientation and now Caitlin was walking across the stage to receive her bachelor’s degree. With rain clouds threatening, workers packed up the white folding chairs set out for the outdoor ceremony and everyone was directed into...

February 9, 2011

I’ve always felt that parents and teenagers spend too much time worrying about getting into colleges. It’s too bad that teenagers, in particular, don’t divert some of this energy into making sure that their college years will be successful. For everybody who agrees with me that the latter goal is vastly more important, I want to recommend a new book,...

January 24, 2011

I’ve always thought that parents and teenagers spend way too much time worrying about getting into college and not enough on being prepared for college. I was thinking about that this weekend after I left a birthday party Saturday at a restaurant in downtown San Diego for an old friend. About 200 people attended the mega birthday celebration and I...

December 12, 2010

Yesterday was my birthday and I spent it with 8 wonderful women. Bear with me and you’ll understand why I’m writing about this in on my college blog. I decided to throw the first birthday party that I’ve had since I was a kid. The reason? Because I didn’t want to be alone on my birthday. Without realizing the date,...

November 19, 2010

When I talk to California teenagers who are interested in attending college outside of the state, their preferred destination is usually the East Coast. As a native Midwesterner it is disheartening that so many Californian teenagers dismiss so much of the country as simply real estate that makes flights from California to New York or Boston way too long. While...

November 10, 2010

I’ve been an empty nester since mid August when my youngest child headed off to college. Most of the time, I can handle both of my kids being far away at their colleges, but I do feel like an empty nester at dinner time. I think that’s because dinner at our house was often the highlight of my day when...

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...

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 30, 2010

What is the best way to support your college students when they head off to college? I began exploring this question in my last post: Staying in Touch With College Students Today I’m going to share some examples of what parents can do for their children besides writing those big tuition checks.  These ideas come from the authors of The...