The College Solutions Blog

March 20, 2011

The college visit season is in full swing. High school seniors are fanning out across the country to check out colleges for the last time before they make their big decision. Visiting campuses during spring break is an annual tradition, but some collegiate suitors are trying to make their campus tours for accepted students more meaningful while distinguishing themselves from...

March 17, 2011

I’m rooting for two teams in the NCCA basketball tournament. The University of Missouri (I graduated from Mizzou’s world famous journalism school) and San Diego State University, which is a 10-minute drive from my house. With the tournament revving up on St. Patrick’s Day, I wanted to share a post that I wrote for my CBS MoneyWatch college blog that...

March 7, 2011

I’m the kind of person who sadly has a hard time relaxing. I can’t, for instance, just walk my Golden Retriever. It’s too boring watching her sniff the same bushes and tree trunks every day. I used to try to read a newspaper or magazine on these walks, but turning pages when the wind is blowing or the dog is...

February 28, 2011

If your family will need significant financial aid, you will increase your chances of receiving a lot of outside help if you get accepted to schools with Cadillac financial aid packages. These schools meet 100% of a student’s demonstrated financial need. Here’s an example: Let’s say that the financial aid methodology says your family can afford to pay $20,000 for...

February 17, 2011

There are many websites that you can research the financial aid practices of individual schools. Today I’m going to focus on an especially helpful site — the federal College Navigator. The College Navigator is not flashy, but it contains incredible tools that tap into the US Department of Education’s vast college database. The College Navigator provides information on individual schools...

February 16, 2011

In my last post, I promised to share some resources that can help you evaluate the generosity of colleges and universities. If you missed it, here is that post: Financial Aid Nuts and Bolts Today I’m going to focus on the College Board’s website, which is a quick and easy resource for anyone interested in getting financial aid statistics on...

February 11, 2011

I attended a mini college conference yesterday in San Diego that was sponsored by the Western Association for College Admission Counseling (WACAC). A couple of enthusiastic young admission reps from a pair of Catholic universities back East were the presenters at one of the sessions.  I wanted to share one of the questions that the reps fielded. An audience member...

January 14, 2011

I gave a presentation on Shrinking the Cost of College last night on CollegeWeek Live. I talked for about 30 minutes from my office and then I answered questions from the audience. Here are some of the topics that I covered: Where you can find the greatest source of college grants. How you can improve your chances of getting college...

January 4, 2011

It’s the time of year when families of high school seniors start worrying about their home equity and financial aid. That’s why I decided to share an email that I got yesterday from a father who was interested in using the services of a CPA who says he could hide his home equity from financial aid formulas. Here is the...

December 29, 2010

It’s going to be a hectic week for me because our family is having our annual holiday party and I’ll be making all the food for 80 people.  All I’ve gotten done so far is a mousse pate, puff pastry pinwheels and spicy pecans so I’ve got a lot to do. I will quickly share with you a post that...