The College Solutions Blog

May 17, 2011

Yesterday I shared the news that my daughter Caitlin graduated from college this week. And she did it in four years, which is a rare feat for today’s college students. If you missed the post here it is: Caitlin Graduates from Juniata College Today, I wanted to share what I wrote for my college blog over CBS MoneyWatch that mentions...

May 15, 2011

My daughter Caitlin graduated from Juniata College this weekend! It just seemed like yesterday that we had arrived at this beautiful campus for freshmen orientation and now Caitlin was walking across the stage to receive her bachelor’s degree. With rain clouds threatening, workers packed up the white folding chairs set out for the outdoor ceremony and everyone was directed into...

March 11, 2011

It’s shocking, but lots of students spend four — or more likely five or six years in college — and they have little to show for it. A bombshell of a book, Academically Adrift, suggests that 45% of college freshmen and sophomores learn little. I’ve written about this phenemonon here: Today, however, I wanted to ask my daughter Caitlin, who...

October 14, 2010

I wanted to share a great federal resource today that can help you measure the campus safety at any college or university. All you need to do is visit the website of The Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool. (It’s a federal website, which explains the clunky name.) With the federal college safety tool, you can find statistics...

October 10, 2010

Should colleges continue to give merit scholarships to rich students? The vast majority of colleges and universities in this country dispense money to rich kids through merit scholarships or grants. The higher-ed world isn’t proud of this practice, but it’s pervasive. I ended up talking about this phenomenon this weekend when I was visiting my daughter Caitlin, who is a...

July 14, 2010

Are you jealous that your child is in college and you’re stuck at home paying for it? I feel that way sometimes and so do many of my friends. But when I get nostalgic about my own days at the University of Missouri, I realize that I have conveniently forgotten about a certain aspect of college life. At some point,...

June 28, 2010

Saturday was a bittersweet day. My son Benjamin graduated from High Tech High. Ben received his diploma along with about 150 other seniors on the school’s lawn on a beautiful (naturally) morning in San Diego. High Tech High has never ranked students – that’s one of the things that I love about the school – so we didn’t have to...

May 8, 2010

Mother’s Day always makes me cry. On this day, I remember my own mom, who was a teacher, and an incredible inspiration to me. She died suddenly in 2002, just hours after she had picked up her latest stack of  books at the library and played tennis with dear friends. I also think about how fast my own two children...

November 16, 2009

You can’t hide in college forever. I’m sure that’s what millions of college students are thinking as they contemplate eventually finding a job during the worst job market since the Great Depression. One way to prepare for the inevitable leap into the dreary job market is to become entrepreneurial. Students can launch their own business while they are still at...

October 25, 2008

One of the niftiest tools you can use when evaluating whether you can afford a college or university is its Common Data Set. When I was researching my book, The College Solution, I remember I was excited when I discovered the Common Data Set. Anytime that I research a school, I check out its latest Common Data Set. When you...