Sometime ago, I listed 15 schools to avoid if you’re making a list of affordable colleges. After all, just as there are colleges that are known for their generosity, there are expensive colleges that you should avoid if you’re looking for significant help in cutting the cost of college. Since I’ve just recently updated the … Read more
Finally! This is the longest I’ve waited to update my list of 50-50 Colleges. For reasons unknown, the Integrated Postsecondary Education System (IPEDS) only recently released the updated graduation rates although they have been showing up on College Navigator for some time now. I try not to take it personally. So while I’m not quite … Read more
Guess what? It all depends! The first thing it depends on is whether or not the scores are a reflection of your actual abilities and accomplishments. There really are people who don’t test well but are superb students. If you know that you can outperform students with much higher test scores, then your test scores alone … Read more
No–with a big assumption. The assumption is that you already know approximately how much you can afford and how much financial aid a college is likely to give you. That means that you have already used a calculator such as the College Board’s EFC Calculator to estimate your expected family contribution (EFC) and the college’s … Read more
The simple answer is not to apply to any college that you can’t afford to attend. Of course, given that the vast majority of financial aid is awarded by colleges, most students don’t actually know if they can afford a college until they are accepted and have received their financial aid award letters. However, the … Read more
The maximum SAT test score on all three sections of the test is 2400. This score is based on the combined individual scores for the Critical Reading, Mathematics, and Writing sections. The lowest score for each section is 200 and the highest is 800. According the College Board, of the 2013 college0bound seniors, the 50th … Read more
I started off this series of How to Pay Less for College by discussing how the economics of supply and demand are the basis for cutting the cost of college. The next two posts on college rankings and geography were basically explaining two significant elements that affect how much families will pay for college. Today … Read more
Resources to help families find a college in Virginia. Includes a list of all Virginia colleges with ACT/SAT scores, admission rates, and graduation rates.
You may have missed the excitement last May when Ronald Nelson announced he was going to attend the University of Alabama. This was a big deal not because Alabama had grabbed the top football recruit in the nation. It was a big deal because Nelson was actually accepted at all eight Ivy League schools, Stanford, … Read more
