There are two primary sources of scholarships. There are what are known as “institutional scholarships,” which are scholarships from the college or university itself. These are often quite large and, by far and away, are the major source of free money for families above the poverty line. The other source of scholarship money is what [...]
In the same way that you and I are notorious for slowing down our cars when we see a policeman parked on the side of the road, seniors are just as prone to putting their efforts on cruise control once they get their acceptance offers. In some ways this is just human nature. Seniors have [...]
There was a time when it was very easy for me to convince people of the danger of private student loans. I would tell families that private student loans almost always require co-signers and usually that was enough to scare them away. If that didn’t work, I could point out that private student loans are [...]
Anytime a college admissions office requires something in the college admission process it creates work for admission officers and support staff. As such, they are not going to do something unless the advantages outweigh the drawbacks. This is why over 1,100 four-year colleges in the US require at least one teacher recommendation in the college [...]
Last month I received a call from a college counselor in New York. Five minutes into the call, he said, “My kids are hearing at school that they should apply to 30 colleges. What do you think?” We are caught in a revolving, pernicious cycle and there is no end in sight. Here is [...]
