The College Solutions Blog

Valuable insights from Lynn O’Shaughnessy
a nationally recognized college expert.

Scholarships

The Odds of Getting a Sports Scholarship: Part II

Since there is so much interest in sports scholarships, I decided to devote another college blog post to the subject. If you missed yesterday’s post, here it is: The Odds of Getting an Athletic Scholarship I’ve met many parents who ask about particular sports and the odds of winning an athletic scholarship. I’m afraid a lot of families think that...

The Odds of Getting an Athletic Scholarship

Do you hope that your child is going to win an athletic scholarship? I run into a lot of people lately who hope/expect their children to pay for college with their athletic prowess. Some of these jocks, by the way, are in grade school! I’m not kidding. Even my own sister, whose daughter is 10, has fallen prey to the...

The Realities of Merit Scholarships

I am attending something called the Super ACAC conference this week in Reno, NV. It’s a rare combined meeting of three related organizations that cover California, the Pacific Northwest and much of the rest of the western United States. College admission administrators, high school counselors and independent college consultants are attending the conference. On my Facebook page on Monday, I...

Where Are the Scholarships Hiding?

Yesterday, a frustrated mom posted a comment on my college blog that expressed her doubts that merit scholarships even exist. Here is what Wendy had to say: How Many Students Receive Merit Scholarships? Wendy’s comment is a timely one because this week the National Association of College and University Business Officers released its annual statistics on merit scholarships and grants...

Getting Stiffed by Harvard

I received an email from a mom over the weekend who was unhappy that her daughter, who beat the odds and got into an Ivy League school, didn’t receive a scholarship from the institution. Here is her note: Our annual household income is more than $750,000 –my daughter is admitted to Harvard – does that mean we have to pay...

Financial Aid Bait and Switch?

When families look at financial aid packages they often assume that a school’s financial aid support will remain the same for four years. That, however, is a dangerous assumption to make. The financial support that some colleges and universities give students will shrink after their freshmen year. Bait and Switch? Why would this happen? I can’t speak for schools that...

A New Way to Search for College Scholarships

It’s private college scholarship season. If your child hopes to obtain a private college scholarship, now is the time to apply. There are two main windows for private scholarships – now and in October and November. The deadline for many current scholarships is at the end of April or in May. Many students, particularly soon-to-be college freshmen wait until the...

Shortchanging a Texas Teenager?

I continue to receive a lot of comments from last week’s post about the Texas mother, who was bitterly disappointed that her extremely accomplished daughter has been getting underwhelming merit awards or none at all from universities. This mother was hoping for large merit scholarships because her family is too affluent to qualify for need-based aid. If you missed it,...

Email from a Happy Mom

Over the last 24-hours, I received a lot of great comments and some emails in reaction to this college blog post: An Email from a Disillusioned Mom If you haven’t read the post, I’d urge you to do so. The email came from a mother of a very bright girl from an affluent family, who received little to no merit...

An Email from a Disillusioned Mom

I received an email yesterday from a disillusioned mom, who wanted to share what she has learned after receiving her oldest daughter’s financial aid packages. I can totally sympathize with this mother and I want to pass on Lisa’s observations before I comment on them. After receiving Lisa’s email, I sent her a message asking what kind of merit aid...