The College Solutions Blog

April 13, 2011

How can reduce your dependence on college loans? Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of FinAid and FastWeb, sent me this article today that includes his suggestions on how families can reduce their dependence on college loans. I couldn’t resist adding some links to college blog posts that I’ve written on the same topics. Here is Mark’s advice: 1. Borrow less for...

January 17, 2011

American colleges and universities are continually getting slammed for costing too much, but there are precious few people suggesting concrete ways to shrink these costs. The Center for College Affordability and Productivity, however, has produced a white paper that lays out: 25 Ways to Reduce the Cost of College There are some excellent suggestions on the center’s list. What do...

October 31, 2010

College costs continue to rise (surprise, surprise), according to the latest statistics released by the College Board. The news is depressing, but not as awful as you might assume. As I’ve discussed in previous college blog posts, roughly two-thirds of college students receive scholarships or other price breaks so the sticker prices are meaningless. 2010-2011 College Tuition Prices Type of...

August 17, 2010

It’s back-to-school season, which means college students are on the prowl for cheap textbooks. The average college student spends more than $1,100 a year on college textbooks. With textbook prices rising twice as fast as inflation during the past 20 years, I’d sure be looking for cheap textbooks if I was a student. There are more options than ever to...

August 8, 2010

College costs sure are daunting, but the sticker prices are meaningless. I recently wrote about how my son and the other two boys in his high school carpool shrank their college costs dramatically. The tuition for the three boys for the coming year totaled a whopping $136,500, but they received grants from their respective liberal arts colleges for the 2010-11...

July 20, 2010

As some of you know, I am now writing a weekly college blog for US News & World Report. I ain’t gonna lie, it gets tiring writing original material all the time. Consequently, today, I’m going to share one of the recent posts that I wrote for US News. Here it is…… It’s a sad reality that most families with...

July 2, 2010

Before I got sucked into writing about colleges — for three college blogs no less! — I spent most of my time in front of my Mac writing personal finance stories. (This blog, by the way, started out as a personal finance blog more than three years ago.) Since the mid 1990s, I’ve written countless investing stories for such national...

June 25, 2010

Most parents aren’t going to pay full price for college. College costs aren’t nearly as high as the official sticker prices. According to the College Board, two-thirds of families will capture a price discount on college costs. Too bad parents and teenagers don’t know this. If they did, it would certainly expand the college choices of millions of students. And...

June 6, 2010

Are 529 plans only for younger children? The answer is absolutely not! I think a lot of parents with college-bound teenagers, however, assume that their days of contributing to a 529 plan is over. By this time, parents are beginning to drain their 529 plan. You could save a bundle in taxes, however, if you continue to contribute to a...

May 14, 2010

What are the most expensive textbooks in America? This week I provided the answer. At my other college blog over at CBSMoneyWatch, I wrote a post that contained the names of the 12 most expensive college textbooks. The most expensive one — Acta  Philosophorum The First Journal of Philosophy  – cost $1,450 retail. The next priciest textbook is Encyclopedia of...