The College Solutions Blog

June 29, 2009

If you are stressing about how to pay for your child’s bachelor’s degree, the news today from an association of private colleges and universities isn’t going to make you break out the champagne at dinner tonight. In a self-congratulatory press release, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, announced that the average tuition increase among private colleges and universities...

June 20, 2009

Today I’m providing links to the three posts that I wrote this week for CBSMoneyWatch.com where I also write about college. Hey, why be a slave to one time-consuming college blog when you can have two?? 1. Three-Year College Degree In this post, I wrote about what may be a nascent trend — the three-year college degree. Since I’ve been...

June 18, 2009

I know a bunch of parents who expect their teenagers to graduate from college in four years. Many of them are dreaming. Forty percent of  students can’t even graduate from college in six years! Colleges and universities often blame students for this dismal record. But if it’s the kids who are slackers, how come schools with similar academic profiles experience...

June 17, 2009

Here’s a grim statistic:  Fewer than 60% of four-year college students graduate in six years. Of course, noncompetitive schools, which accept nearly all comers, drag down the national graduation rates. For instance, only 18% of students at Mountain State University in Beckley, WV, which accepts all its applicants, graduate in six years. In contrast, 97% of Harvard students have earned...

June 12, 2009

When my daughter’s friends came home from their freshmen year in college, most of them were happy campers. A few of Caitlin’s friends, however, weren’t thrilled with their college choices. It shouldn’t be any surprise that universities don’t always click, but there are plenty of opportunities for college transfers. I  saw this happen with one of Caitlin’s dearest friends who...

June 4, 2009

The annual U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings edition is fun to read. In the past, I’ve poured over it myself. The rankings, however, are flawed. I’ve covered many of the reasons why U.S. News & World Report’s rankings are sketchy in my book, The College Solution, as well as in some of my blog posts. Here’s one reason...

May 13, 2009

College students and their parents hate to see tuition increases. So why are students at the University of Florida, Florida State, the University of Montana and elsewhere clamoring for tuition hikes? Here’s a clue: When universities are starved for cash, academic quality shrinks and students eventually notice. That’s what has been happening at state universities in Florida. According to an...

April 21, 2009

Just thinking about what it takes to get into college today can be exhausting.  High school kids are supposed to take challenging classes, study for the dreaded SAT/ACT, round up teacher recommendation, complete applications, nag their parents to fill out financial aid forms ….it never seems to end. But today was a triumph for the two seniors who ride in...

April 18, 2009

When I was in college I owned a fake ID. One of my friends, who  worked at the DMV in St. Louis, gave it to me as a birthday present. So I wasn’t exactly a prude in college though I don’t remember ever making a fool of myself at a kegger. But now that I’m a mom with two teenagers,...

April 5, 2009

Some high schools prepare teenagers for college better than others. Duh. But here’s something that many parents in California don’t realize. Sending your child to a top high school could reduce their chances of getting into UCLA or Berkeley. During the past couple of weeks, I’ve run into parents who are mystified and angry that their teenagers didn’t get into...