My husband Bruce and I visited Beloit College over the weekend to attend a biannual parent committee meeting and – of course – we were excited to see Ben, who is finishing up his sophomore year. When you live in San Diego, it’s hard to pinpoint when spring arrives since it is green year round. [...]
Financial Aid Letters from Alabama, Ohio and Colorado
on March 15, 2012 in Admissions, Applying, Financial aid, Money, Scholarships, Universities
State universities are often the cheapest places to obtain a bachelor’s degree, but not always. In fact, for a smart student who needs financial aid, expensive private schools will sometimes be more affordable. Out here in California, a story that generated a lot of attention recently carried a variation of this headline: Believe It: Harvard [...]
Where More Upper-Middle Class Students are Heading
on February 28, 2012 in College Costs, Colleges, Community colleges, Money
At this time of year, lots of families are realizing that their high school seniors can’t attend their dream schools. Seniors are receiving their financial aid packages in the mail and for some of them the numbers don’t look good. Among those who are struggling are upper middle-class families that you might assume would be [...]
What I’ve Been Up To Lately
on February 17, 2012 in Academic quality, Academics, Admission practices, Admissions, Applying, College Costs, College rankings, Colleges, Evaluating Schools, Financial aid, Money, Research, Scholarships
My husband took this picture of me and Minerva, my office assistant, yesterday in my horribly messy office. I thought it would help illustrate what I’ve been doing for the past few months. My office is a wreck because I’ve been totally preoccupied with writing the second edition of The College Solution: A Guide for [...]
Colleges and Universities That Cheat
on February 2, 2012 in College rankings, Colleges, Ivy League, Liberal Arts Colleges, Research
Claremont McKenna College recently announced that it had been sending inflated SAT scores to US News since 2005. According to news accounts, the vice president and dean of admissions admitted inflating the scores and resigned. The college’s critical reading scores were inflated by an average of 17 points and the math scores were bumped up [...]
Getting A College Education for Free – Really!
on January 30, 2012 in Admissions, Applying, Liberal Arts Colleges, Scholarships
I wrote a post for my CBS MoneyWatch college blog on Friday that blew out Antioch College’s server. How did I do that? Actually, it wasn’t me. I was just the messenger for the liberal arts college that had a dramatic announcement to make. For the next three years, Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH, [...]
About Lynn
In addition to writing her nationally known blog here on TheCollegeSolution.com, Lynn O’Shaughnessy is an author, higher-ed journalist, speaker and college consultant. Lynn writes about college strategies for CBSMoneyWatch and US News & World Report. She's the author of The College Solution, an Amazon.com bestseller and... Continue Reading...




