The College Solutions Blog

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

College prices
Featured image for “Why you need to use college net price calculators”
February 14, 2020

Why you need to use college net price calculators

Before you let your teenager apply to colleges, you need to use each college’s net price calculator. Unless money is no object and you can afford to pay full price for any colleges, turning to net price calculators is critical. If you don’t know what these calculators are – and most parents don’t – here are 10 things you need...
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May 16, 2017

When College Sticker Prices Can Matter

College sticker prices are often meaningless because most students at state and private universities don’t pay it. Published prices, however, can be a helpful starting point when exploring what kind of price break, in the form of scholarship and grants, your child might get at a particular institution. Here’s an example: Your teenager receives a $15,000 annual merit award at...
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November 8, 2013

Looking For Great College Bargains

Excuse me if this sounds ridiculously elementary, but here goes: One way to cut your college costs is to look for schools with lower sticker prices. My nephew Matt attends Westminster College in Fulton Mo, a liberal arts college, where the tuition and room/board is $30,490. Ninety eight percent of the students at Westminster don’t pay full price. The average...
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March 7, 2012

Could College Affordability Become Fashionable?

Last week my best friend was complaining to me about how expensive Mount Holyoke College is. My friend’s daughter is a sophomore at the women’s college and she makes too much money to qualify for any financial aid. My friend can afford the tuition, but for the first time she was expressing her resentment that any college should cost that...
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March 1, 2012

Where Can You Find Cheaper College Prices?

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...
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March 1, 2012

Where Can You Find Cheaper College Prices?

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...
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November 21, 2011

How Hard Is It To Get Into College?

Do you assume that most teenagers face lousy odds of getting accepted into a good college? Lots of families believe that the admission process is stacked heavily against applicants, but this isn’t true. I largely blame the media’s obsessive coverage of the most elite universities for that misconception. A new report from the College Board, Trends in College Pricing 2011,...
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July 1, 2009

Will Colleges Be the Next Bubble to Burst?

Are colleges going  to be the next big bubble that bursts? College prices continue to rise even as fewer and fewer parents are remotely able to cover the tab. Ever since George Washington University broke the $50,000-a-year barrier awhile ago, a growing number of elite schools now charge at least that much. Imagine that. Or rather, imagine paying that. I...
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