The College Solutions Blog

June 14, 2012

This week the U.S. Department of Education released its second annual lists of college tuition hogs. For the record, the federal bureaucrats don’t call them them porkers. Congress mandated that the government compile and release annual lists of the five percent of colleges and universities that charge the highest and lowest tuition. The government assembles the lists based on each...

April 13, 2012

For many years I was a financial journalist who wrote about such garden-variety investment topics as 401(k)’s, IRA’s, mutual funds, bonds and how investors can assemble a retirement portfolio that will last longer than they do. I enjoyed what I was doing until I stumbled across a financial topic that I knew nothing about when my daughter was in high...

March 30, 2012

College price tags are meaningless. If you’ve spent much time on my college blog you already appreciate that these numbers don’t mean anything, but most families don’t. About two thirds of students attending state and private schools receive scholarships or grants and the number rises to about 88% at private institutions, which have to offer more discounts for students to...

March 1, 2012

In the higher-ed world, some things are highly predictable. Every year, for instance, millions of high school students head to college and every year schools raise their prices. Colleges and universities have rightfully taken a lot of flack for their annual price hikes. Traditionally, that’s been especially true with private institutions and particularly at the institutions that are now reaching...

March 1, 2012

In the higher-ed world, some things are highly predictable. Every year, for instance, millions of high school students head to college and every year schools raise their prices. Colleges and universities have rightfully taken a lot of flack for their annual price hikes. Traditionally, that’s been especially true with private institutions and particularly at the institutions that are now reaching...

January 2, 2012

I want to give a big thanks to all of my regular visitors — and the new folks too — who helped to make 2011 the best year ever for The College Solution! I know 2011 was my best year because I use Google Analytics to keep track of how many people visit my college blog. Now that we’re in...

October 27, 2011

Interested in finding out what the most expensive colleges and universities in the nation are? I wrote a post for my college blog over at CBS MoneyWatch today that listed the top 25 price offenders. I’m patching in the list below. Not surprisingly, most of the priciest schools are located on the East Coast. Why Should We Care? I’m going...

September 29, 2011

I invited David Montesano, one of my favorite independent college counselors, to write this guest post after I heard him talk about the challenges that middle-class families face in paying for college. Montesano is the founder of College Match Educational Consultants in Seattle and other cities. By David Montesano The rising cost of college is nothing less than a crisis...

August 19, 2011

How do you cut the cost of college? The best way to shrink college costs is to be an educated consumer. If money is an issue – and it almost always is – you need to evaluate schools to determine which ones are generous and which are stingy. Here are 10 ways that can help you shave significant dollars off...

June 6, 2011

When you are looking at colleges, don’t believe the sticker price. Why? Because college are priced like airline tickets. Everybody pays a different fare. When I give talks to families with teenagers, that’s one of the first points that I emphasize. It’s your job then to find colleges and universities that are not only great academic fits, but also financial...