The College Solutions Blog

July 27, 2015

Today I’m rerunning a previous post that I’ve updated that I hope will reduce the stress level of many parents reading it. I initially wrote the post in reaction to the dilemma of a teenager with a 3.4 GPA who failed to capture a scholarship from any of the schools where he applied. This is hard to do when you...

July 29, 2013

Today I’m sharing with you a guest blog from Michelle Kretzschmar, my friend and the creator of Do It Yourself College Rankings. Michelle and I are busy developing an online class for parents that is focused on shrinking college costs.We hope to roll out the course in the fall. Lynn O’Shaughnessy As the cost of attending some the nation’s colleges...

May 10, 2013

Many parents assume that college is a seller’s market, but except for the elite schools that are perched at the top of US News & World Report’s college rankings, this belief is laughable. Schools are so eager to attract freshmen to their campuses that they are now discounting their tuition at historically high levels. That’s the conclusion from the latest...

July 2, 2012

When students are shopping for colleges, admission representatives typically urge them to ignore the sticker price. Here’s what these college reps routinely say:  We’ve got lots of financial aid and scholarships. Just APPLY! I was reminded of why applying blind is such a reckless strategy when a mom contacted me after her husband heard me give a college talk at...

July 2, 2012

When students are shopping for colleges, admission representatives typically urge them to ignore the sticker price. Here’s what these college reps routinely say:  We’ve got lots of financial aid and scholarships. Just APPLY! I was reminded of why applying blind is such a reckless strategy when a mom contacted me after her husband heard me give a college talk at...

May 18, 2012

How can reduce your dependence on college loans? About this time last year, Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of FinAid and FastWeb, sent me some suggestions on how families can reduce their dependence on college loans. I am running the suggestions again along with links to some of my college blog posts that I’ve written on the same topics. Here are...

May 17, 2012

When you take into account all the sources of college aid that are available to students in this country, roughly nine percent comes from state governments. Recently that amounted to $9.2 billion. How states dispense this aid varies significantly. While nearly all states are strapped for cash, some are far more generous than others to college students. The requirements for...

April 6, 2012

Yesterday, a frustrated mom posted a comment on my college blog that expressed her doubts that merit scholarships even exist. Here is what Wendy had to say: How Many Students Receive Merit Scholarships? Wendy’s comment is a timely one because this week the National Association of College and University Business Officers released its annual statistics on merit scholarships and grants...

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...

March 14, 2012

I have started getting emails from parents who are disappointed that their teenagers’ financial aid packages are so meager. I wanted to share one story today from a mom, whose daughter is a stellar student and who was hoping for the University of Delaware’s top scholarship. A Mom’s Email My daughter just received her acceptance today from the University of...