College Characteristics – Page 4 – Do It Yourself College Rankings

50-50 Highlights: Colleges with Cross Registration

02/26/202106/09/2020 by Michelle Kretzschmar

Instructor explaining cross registration to college students

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College consortiums offers students the opportunity to take classes at participating colleges through a cross registration system. Students don’t have to go through the admissions and enrollment process at the other college. Through various options, they are allowed to register for a course at an institution on the consortium lists while only paying tuition at their home school. These programs can dramatically expand the courses available to students as well as networking opportunities.

Why People Waste Their College Visits-Part 2

03/24/202003/24/2020 by Michelle Kretzschmar

students walking on campus representing college visits

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In the first part of Why People Waste Their College Campus Visits, I discussed how students and families don’t make the most of college visits because they don’t understand there are different types of campus visits and don’t prepare appropriately. I covered some common issues regarding campus visits and listed one of three types of campus visits. This post lists the remaining types of visits and what to do if you can’t visit.

Why People Waste Their College Visits

03/23/202003/17/2020 by Michelle Kretzschmar

Happy student representing getting the most out of college visits

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When people talk about college visits, it’s usually to give advice about questions to ask and places to visit while you’re on campus. There’s also the issue of how much importance to place on the official campus tour and student guide. No one stops to ask what “kind” of college visit is intended. Yes, there are different kinds of visits. There are actually three different types of visits.

The College MATCH Method

06/01/202012/01/2019 by Michelle Kretzschmar

ShareTweetFlipEmailPin11 Shares Not ready to pay an extra house payment a month for college? Then you need to use the College MATCH Method.

College Search Websites: College Navigator

08/05/202009/11/2019 by Michelle Kretzschmar

Table showing average net price by income from College Navigator

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(You can see an updated evaluation of the College Navigator here.) The College Navigator website is part of the National Center for Education Statistics. They are responsible for collecting all kinds of education related data including that in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The College Navigator is just the user-friendly way of accessing the IPEDS data. If you don’t like the user-friendly approach, you can access the data directly through the IPEDS Data Center.

Essential Guide to College Graduation Rates

02/26/202108/20/2019 by Michelle Kretzschmar

table listing colleges with the highest graduation rate statistics

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If you’re just looking for the latest college graduation rate statistics, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) the 4-year graduation rate for four-year colleges in the United States is 42%. For private colleges, it is 54% and the 4-year rate for public institutions is 37%. This is for students starting in 2011. These statistics are not the same as you’ll often see reported by the media. That’s because they are reporting the 6-year graduation rates. The 6-year graduation rate is 60% overall and 66% for private colleges and 59% for public colleges.

Pros and Cons of Using College Navigator for Creating Your College List

07/08/201906/25/2019 by Michelle Kretzschmar

Person smiling and making an "OK" gesture with their hand while sitting at a desk with a laptop. Text reads, "College Navigator pros and cons for creating your college list.

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Why should you use College Navigator as your starting point in creating your college list? Two reasons. The first is that College Navigator is provided by the federal government which is also one of the two major data sources for college search websites and the more reliable of the two. Really. When US News College Rankings wants to check their data, they use the federal government’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data to check the Common Data Set (CDS).

Pros and Cons of Using College Board’s Big Future for Creating Your College List

07/08/201906/11/2019 by Michelle Kretzschmar

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If you do a web search for “college search” chances are you’ll find the College Board’s Big Future at the top of the results list. It’s not surprising since they have historically already have access to some of the information many students and colleges have considered the most important in college admissions–test scores. But just how good is Big Future in helping you create your college list?

50-50 Highlights: Colleges Where Students Are Most Likely to Graduate with Debt

02/26/202104/18/2019 by Michelle Kretzschmar

golden figure holding onto debt representing Colleges Where Students Are Most Likely to Graduate with Debt

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In case you’ve been in a coma and haven’t heard, there is a student loan crisis. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the total student loan debt of $1.46 billion exceeds that of consumer credit card debt. Apparently, students are borrowing too much to pay for college. Of course, you could argue that maybe they’re not borrowing too much, they just don’t have jobs that will allow them to make their loan payments. Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that students are often borrowing more than they can reasonably repay.