Going to college in Boston isn’t just for high school valedictorians, those with 10 AP classes on their transcripts, or those with test scores in the 90th percentile or higher. It’s only natural that you would assume so with names like Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Boston College, Wellesley, Northeastern, and Brandies dominating the higher education neighborhood. However, learning really is for everyone and there are 36 colleges in the greater Boston area with 500 or more full-time undergraduates. You do the math. Furthermore, a third of them are 50-50 colleges.
50-50 Highlights: Colleges in the Boston Area
When students think about going to college in New York City, NYU and Columbia are usually the first colleges that come to mind. And then maybe Vassar and Fordham will be mentioned. Someone might think about the City Colleges. But for too many students, going to college in New York City is pretty much limited to these schools. Which is too bad since there 84 4-year colleges with at least 500 students in the greater New York area. And 21 of them are 50-50 schools.
My son graduated from college in 2015. He quit playing baseball in 2013. Baseball had been such a presence in his life that quitting the team was one of the hardest decisions he had to make. But as I try to decide what to do with the popup net and catchers gear still sitting the garage, I realize how many of the decisions we made because of baseball.
We’ve all seen the pictures in the local paper, high school seniors signing their National Letter of Intent (NLI) to play for a specific university or college. Sometimes there are proud parents in the pictures. Other times, you’ll see team colors or maybe a football. What you won’t see is a coach from the university the student is signing the NLI with.
Of the 464 colleges and universities on the 
One factor that will determine how much you pay for college is location. I’ve talked before about how students who insist only on schools in the 
Anyone who reads my blog for a while will realize that I have a thing about college graduation rates. One of the “50’s” in my 50-50 schools is graduation rates. And I can’t say it’s just something I started paying attention to as my son got closer to college. My master’s report was on high school graduation rates. Yeah, I was playing with graduation rates before most people ever heard of them. So no one should be surprised that I want to be clear about the difference between graduation rates and freshman retention rates and why it matters.
The idea behind the 
As the cost of attending state flagship universities passes $30,000, many families are considering the financial benefits of starting at a community college and then transfer to a 4-year university. Combining living at home with paying only a third to half of the tuition of a 4 year public institution represents significant savings. However, those savings will exist only if students actual path in real life follows the plan–and that is far from being certain. 
