The College Solutions Blog

March 18, 2010

Congress is on the verge of enacting the biggest federal student loan reform in a generation. I’ve been following the high-stakes fight on Capitol Hill between the student lending giants and the Obama administration for some time, but I didn’t feel compelled to share the news until the legislation looked like a sure thing. The Democrats have tucked the federal...

February 11, 2010

The typical student graduates from college with $23,200 in college loan debt. That figure, which comes from a recent study from the Project on Student Debt, only includes student loan debt. The $23,200 tab does not include money that parents borrowed through the federal PLUS loan program, a home equity line of credit or by dipping into retirement accounts. Is...

February 9, 2010

What schools offer the best college financial aid? Last month, I wrote this post: 51 Colleges With the Best Student Financial Aid. Please take a look at the list because it includes schools with awesome financial aid policies that will reduce your stress about how you will pay for college. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Amherst College assembled...

December 27, 2009

Which universities spend more on sports than classroom instruction?  In my latest college blog post for CBSMoneyWatch, I shared the list of the Division 1-A schools that spend the greatest percentage of its revenue on sports. On the list, you’ll find the top 10 college sports cash hogs, as well as the 10 schools that spend the smallest percentage of...

November 24, 2009

I’m going to be surprised if the soaring level of college student loan debt doesn’t become a political issue. The number of student loan defaults and delinquencies are rising. The latest statistics on student loan delinquencies are shocking.  The Student Lending Analytics Blog just crunched the Federal Reserve numbers on student loan delinquencies and came up with these dreary stats: More...

November 15, 2009

Here are links to my college blog posts for CBSMoneyWatch for the past week: The Horrors of Defaulting on a Student Loan In some respects, the college admission process can be fun. It’s fun to visit colleges and it’s fun to  receive acceptance letters in the mail. What’s not fun is paying for college. Sometimes that turns into a nightmare...

July 6, 2009

The new federal student loan forgiveness program sounds like a great idea, but it’s not nearly as helpful as it could be. The public service student loan forgiveness plan is intended to help college students who are leery about going into lower paying public-service and nonprofit jobs, such as teaching and social work, because of their student debt. To nudge...

June 26, 2009

I wanted to share with you three college posts that I wrote this week for my other college blog  at CBSMoneyWatch. Hope you enjoy them! 1. Shrinking Your Federal Student Loans A great federal program will begin this coming Wednesday that will provide relief to many borrowers who are struggling with repaying their federal student loans. 2. Declawing the FAFSA...

February 10, 2009

If you want to be scared straight about college costs, read a Forbes Magazine article entitled The Great College Hoax.The piece argues that graduates who believe that a college degree will start them off on a yellow brick road that leads to greater salaries and a $1 million lifetime advantage over the poor souls who never make it past high...