The College Solutions Blog

June 22, 2015

Many students who aren’t interested in attending a public university in their own state tend to look at state institutions elsewhere. Choosing public universities outside your border can sometimes be a relative  bargain. In other cases, the price you pay as a nonresident will be exorbitant and comparable to private universities that are stingy with financial aid and/or merit awards....

June 14, 2015

I’ve looked at plenty of college essays over the years and the vast majority of them have been b-o-r-i-n-g. The mediocre essays that I’ve seen have usually been guilty of one or more of these no-no’s: 1. They lacked details. 2. They didn’t convey the student’s voice. 3. They covered too much territory. (Writing about something that lasted seconds, minutes...

June 8, 2015

Over the weekend, my son graduated from college again. A year ago, Ben left Beloit College with his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a minor in studio art. On Friday, my 22-year-old son received his master’s degree in education from the University of Denver. Denver Teacher Residency After graduating from Beloit, Ben was only home in San Diego for 10...

June 1, 2015

Can you guess what the following schools have in common: More Than a Mish Mash Admittedly, this list looks like a mishmash of institutions that includes some of the nation’s prestigious research universities along with specialty engineering schools, liberal arts colleges and master’s level universities. These colleges and universities emerged as super stars in a new value-added college ranking system...

May 26, 2015

Here’s a little known but excellent way to cut the cost of a bachelor’s degree: Attend a college rather than a research university. Nearly all colleges provide discounts off their sticker prices versus research universities, which are far less likely to give families a price break. In the chart below that I pulled from the latest tuition discount study from...

May 21, 2015

Creating a college list can be intimidating. And it’s no wonder since there is a lot riding on drawing up a solid list of promising colleges and universities. Getting it wrong can lead to students being miserable at their schools. It also is a reason why so many unhappy undergrads end up transferring to different institutions. In extreme cases, creating...

May 15, 2015

I was amazed when I had roughly 950 people register to attend my two webinars this week. If you missed it, don’t worry, I am sharing a link to a recording of one of the webinars below. In the 70-minute webinar, I shared four of my favorite tools to cut the cost of college. Here are the tools that I...

May 7, 2015

I am inviting you to attend my webinar on Tuesday or Thursday that will explain four ways that you can cut your college costs. For your convenience, I am offering two webinar dates: May 12 (Tuesday), 5:30 p.m. PDT   Register here. May 14 (Thursday), Noon PDT  Register here. Everyone who registers for one of the webinar dates will receive the...

May 5, 2015

If you’re like millions of other parents with teenagers, you are stressed about your child’s college choices and how you’re going to pay the tab. Beginning May 19, I will launch my next online course for parents that will teach you, step-by-step, how to become an incredibly smart college shopper in just eight weeks. Benefits of Taking the Course Taking...

April 28, 2015

If paying for college is going to be a challenge, and it usually is, it’s important that you obtain your Expected Family Contribution before your begin looking at colleges with your teenagers. In fact, obtaining your EFC should be the FIRST STEP you take in the college process. Here is a quick rundown of what an EFC is, why it’s important, how...