Michelle Kretzschmar 
Everyone knows that the college has become expensive but just applying to them can set you back a nice chunk of change as well. Application fees are hitting $100 for some institutions. Think about the next time you hear about some student applying to 20 schools.
(I’ve updated this post with the most recent rankings.)
Sorry. It’s the reason why traffic slows down on the opposite of the freeway from the accident. We just can’t help but look, if just for a second. And while the list of 50-50 schools is going the opposite direction of the US News College Rankings, they did come out this month and we might as well get it over with and look.
Students interested in majoring in engineering don’t have the luxury of waiting several semesters before starting work in their major. The demanding sequence of courses requires students to begin major requirements as freshman. Even starting as freshman, engineering majors often take more than four years to graduate.
When looking for a college, it’s a good idea to keep geography in mind. Apparently most families do but not in ways that will improve financial aid or enhance the student’s college education. According to The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2016, 53% of freshman attend college within 100 miles of home. Only 17.3% enroll at a college more than 500 miles from home.
The first colleges founded in the colonies were religious-based institutions. Today over 500 colleges and universities have some sort of religious affiliation representing approximately one-third of all four-year institutions. Among 50-50 colleges, 41% of institutions have a religious affiliations.
With all of the negative perceptions associated with college testing (ACT and SAT), why would I bother to use them to rank 50-50 schools? The most basic reason is that despite the efforts of groups like FairTest.org, the SAT/ACT are still a fact of life for most high school students.
Are there any good 50-50 schools for students majoring in the Visual and Performing Arts? Unfortunately, I can’t say since I don’t really know much about what defines a quality music program or which schools have the best reputation in theater or dance. Just from the little I’ve read, I suspect that the category is too broad to be meaningful to students seriously interested in one of the art disciplines.
Think because you’re a miserable test taker, you don’t have a chance at merit aid? Maybe not. If you’re willing to step away from the limelight of prestige and top 50 college rankings, you can find some excellent opportunities among the growing number of test optional colleges. With just a little digging into the data, I came up with 36 possible test optional colleges for merit aid.
Most parents know that they will need financial aid to send their kids to college. But they don’t always understand financial aid actually comes from a variety of sources and can vary depending on the college. Do you know the answers to the following financial aid questions?
