The College Solutions Blog

October 13, 2008

I received an email from a mother this weekend who was worried about how the stock market implosion would impact the family’s ability to pay for their daughter’s education at one of the nation’s premiere universities. The family’s investment portfolio has dropped 33% since the summer when their daughter enrolled as a freshman at Washington University in St. Louis. The...

October 9, 2008

Do you know the difference between a federal student loan and a private one? With the stock market imploding, knowing the correct answer is even more important now. Why? Because it’s more likely that people with decimated college accounts are going to have to go into debt–or into greater debt–to pay for a bachelor’s degree. While borrowing intelligently is critical,...

August 25, 2008

I don’t think I truly understood how financially devastating an unpaid student loan can be until I talked with an engineering graduate from the University of Southern California. I interviewed Alan Collinge for a story I was writing about student loans for Money Magazine last year. The young graduate snagged a position as an associate scientist at Cal Tech, but...

July 28, 2008

I thought I knew a lot about private college loans after researching them for my book, The College Solution. But when I read The New York Times this past weekend, I was shocked to learn of another reason why families should try hard to avoid private loans. In my book, I devote an entire chapter to explaining the perils of...

July 25, 2008

This is the time of year when college students and their families start signing loan papers. Lots of families take out loans to pay for at least a portion of college costs, but far too many don’t borrow wisely. I suspect that families are so relieved after surviving the college admission process that they often don’t pay nearly enough attention...

June 14, 2008

Did you or anybody you know take out a federal student loan before July 2006? If so, you’ll want to discover a great new way to cut your lending costs that many lenders are unlikely to divulge. The interest rate on Stafford loans, which were borrowed before July 2006, will be dropping significantly if you haven’t already consolidated this debt....

October 30, 2007

I was visiting my daughter, who attends Juniata College in Pennsylvania, for several days, which mercifully allowed me to escape the tragic San Diego fire, the miserable air and those cursed Santa Ana winds. Now that I’m back, I’m furiously trying to finish my book, The 99.8% College Solution by December. The book is focused on helping the kids, who...