The College Solutions Blog

December 10, 2009

This is the time for parents of high school seniors to start thinking about applying for financial aid. I was reminded of that today when the college counselor at my son’s high school asked me to talk to his advisory group about the FAFSA and the CSS Financial Aid Profile. Just about everybody in the room had heard of the...

December 9, 2009

At first I ignored most social media. I don’t even have a Facebook page yet though that is high on my to-do list. I decided, however,  I needed to embrace social media if I was ever going to get the word about about this college blog and my other one at CBSMoneyWatch. I initially thought that Twitter was the most...

December 9, 2009

It’s all too common for college coeds to be raped or to be the victims of an attempted rape. According to a federal study, one out of five women are sexually assaulted in college. What’s equally alarming is about 95% of these women remain silent. The Center for Public Integrity has just released a new study based on a nine-month...

December 4, 2009

Here’s my advice for the day:  Cut the apron strings. I have run into so many parents with talented teenagers who want their kids to stay close to home when they start college. By insisting on this, they severely limit their teenagers’ college choices. I ran into one of these mom’s today at the dentist office when I was getting...

November 23, 2009

The job news is grim for soon-to-be graduating college students. Employers, according to The National Association of Colleges and Employers are expected to hire 7% fewer graduates of the Class of 2010 than they did with the last batch. With this shrunken pool of college graduate jobs, how can soon-to-be graduates get ahead in this jobless recovery? Here are seven...

October 25, 2009

As usual, I am sharing with you the posts that I wrote for my college blog for CBSMoneyWatch.com during the past week. Baby Einstein Bust: Toys That Will Make Your Child Smarter. Did parents really think that plunking their infants in front of Baby Einstein DVDs was really going to make them geniuses. Come on. Surely they knew Baby Einstein...

October 17, 2009

Yesterday was bittersweet for me.  My son Ben and I wrapped up our final college tour before he begins applying to colleges. Our last stop was Lawrence University, a lovely liberal arts college in Appleton, WI., where the autumn leaves provided a stunning backdrop for a campus that’s perched above the picturesque Fox River. I am keenly aware of the...

October 11, 2009

Last week I was talking to the college counselor at my son’s high school about research findings that suggest that Asian students face much greater odds in getting into Ivy League and other elite institutions. During our conversation, the counselor took a hardback from his book-lined room and suggested I read it. School of Dreams: Making the Grade at a...

September 9, 2009

I’m not on Facebook. Okay, I’m a loser. Or at least that’s the vibe that I’ve gotten when people learn that I am Facebook-less. If I truly want to create a buzz around my college book and my college blogs, I’ve been told that I need to be on Facebook. Yet Facebook seems like a endless popularity contest — the...

May 18, 2009

Today I’d like to share a 65-year-old story that illustrates the power of a college degree, as well as the kindness of two priests,  who recognized the intellectual potential of a poor Irish kid from St. Louis. It’s a sweet story about my father, Vincent Patrick O’Shaughnessy, who is dying of pancreatic cancer. As I sit at his bedside, this...