The College Solutions Blog

March 27, 2012

It’s private college scholarship season. If your child hopes to obtain a private college scholarship, now is the time to apply. There are two main windows for private scholarships – now and in October and November. The deadline for many current scholarships is at the end of April or in May. Many students, particularly soon-to-be college freshmen wait until the...

January 8, 2010

Yesterday I wrote this provocative post: Why High School Counselors Don’t Know Much About College.  Today I wanted to follow up with 10 things that the typical high school counselors doesn’t know. Here goes: 1. There are roughly 50 colleges and universities in the country that are no-loan schools, which means they meet a student’s financial aid need with grants...

October 21, 2009

Here’s a shocker:  College costs continue to rise. That is the verdict of the College Board’s annual college cost study. Tuition and fees at state schools jumped 6.5% and the tuition cost at private schools rose 4.4%. A few months ago, an association of private colleges and universities issued a press release congratulating their members for holding down the cost...

August 5, 2009

I am the guest lecturer this week for an online college counseling course that’s offered through the extension service of the University of California, San Diego. It’s the second time that I’ve taught the class and it’s nice to get a chance to see what high school counselors, who are enrolled in the class, are thinking. Here’s a question that...

August 3, 2009

Merit scholarships have always been controversial in higher-ed circles because many of these awards end up going to rich kids. A study just released by the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute suggests that college scholarship practices have led to lower numbers of minority and lower-income students on campuses. This finding would refute the argument that many college administrators make that...