How do you generate ideas for a college list that doesn’t look like everybody else’s? Students typically end up looking at a fairly narrow lineup of schools, which is not always a smart strategy if you want to find good academic fits, as well as colleges that will be more affordable. Today I want to […]
I want to thank everybody who offered advice to the single mom, who is anxious about her daughter’s college options. You can read all the comments and the original post here: A Mom Stressing About College Today I thought I’d offer my own suggestions about the options for this teenager, who thinks that she might […]
I’ve been getting questions from parents who are agonizing about where their teenagers should attend college. It’s a tough decision and time is running out to pick the winners. The national deposit day for freshman is May 1. College Choices Here are some of choices facing a family that contacted me yesterday: St. Olaf, Grinnell, […]
Do you assume that most teenagers face lousy odds of getting accepted into a good college? Lots of families believe that the admission process is stacked heavily against applicants, but this isn’t true. I largely blame the media’s obsessive coverage of the most elite universities for that misconception. A report from the College Board, Trends […]
When I give talks about finding and affording colleges in California, the audiences often gasp when I share grad rates for some extremely popular state schools. Here are some of the four-year grad rates that shock parents: San Jose State University 7.9% Cal State University-Long Beach 12.3% San Francisco State University 14. 2% Cal State […]
Here is a scary college statistic: According to the federal government, only 36.4% of full-time students graduate from college in four years. Here is a closer look at the latest available stats: Graduating in Four Years Public universities can often be less expensive than private institutions for students who can graduate on time, but most […]
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 […]
It’s intimidating when families hear that there are thousands of colleges and universities in this country. It’s equally unnerving when families try to grapple with this question: Where do you find ideas? This week I hope to share some suggestions on web resources that can help you start collecting college candidates. The first one to […]
