7 Questions You’ll Be Asked About College Over The Holidays (& How To Respond!)

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: the holidays! The joy will be spread amongst the world through holiday music, festive décor and (dreaded) family dinners, but there may be one thing dampening that joy: questions about college. Your family may take the awkward in-between dinner courses silence to focus on your upcoming life transition, even though there are so many other topics to cover.

It may seem awkward to have all the attention on you, and you may even get tripped up on how to answer everyone’s questions, but fear not! HC talked to Christine Logel, social psychologist and assistant professor of social development studies at the University of Waterloo, to give you all the best responses to both answer or avoid all the questions thrown at you.

Read the whole post: http://www.hercampus.com/high-school/7-questions-you-ll-be-asked-about-college-over-holidays-how-respond

What Is a Research University? Part I

If you are hoping that your children ultimately attend a university, the schools on your dream list are probably all research institutions

Universities with the best-known brand names fall into this category. If you look at the top 50 national universities in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings, for instance, it’s likely you will recognize the names of all or nearly all of them. At the top are Princeton and Harvard and roughly 50 spots down are schools like Boston University and Tulane. You surely recognize those names too.

In contrast, it’s unusual for most Americans to recognize the names of any liberal arts colleges. Perched at the top of U.S. News’ liberal arts college rankings are Williams and Amherst colleges, which you’ve probably heard of. But the name recognition disappears quickly on this list. Schools making the top ten list include Bowdoin College (ME) and Carleton College (MN) while at the 50th spots are Denison (OH) and DePauw (IN).

It would be an unfortunate mistake, however, to assume that because research universities are better known and more popular that they will automatically be the best option for your children.

Before you can determine whether a research university is the best choice for your child, you need to understand what these institutions offer.

Read more at the original post: 

http://www.thecollegesolution.com/what-is-a-research-university-part-i/

3 Ways U.S. Colleges Evaluate Applications

​"It was confusing." 

That's how Rinat, a third-year gender studies student from Almaty, Kazakhstan, described his experience preparing applications to U.S. universities. "Every university had different applications, different deadlines, different things I had to send to them."

Rinat's impression of the U.S. university application process is not unique to international students. U.S. high schools students can also be confused by the differing requirements and processes involved in a college application. The complexity of applications, and the processes that universities use in reviewing applications, is as varied as the nearly 4,000 institutions of higher education in the U.S. 

[See the 2016 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings.]

It can be helpful to understand why applications can differ so much from one university to the next. Typically, a university admissions office tries to answer a key set of questions when reviewing an application.

​First, they want to know that there's evidence that the student has the academic readiness to undertake studies at that school. Second, they want to know that the student's educational and growth goals are aligned with the missions, goals and ethos of the particular university. Finally, the university tries to determine if the student's presence on campus will provide a positive contribution to the university's learning environment and ​community.

These factors are extremely specific to each institution, and universities in the U.S. have developed several admissions models to help answer them.

There are three common models of admissions employed by U.S. universities: open admissions, threshold admissions and holistic admissions.​

Open Admissions Model

The open admissions model does not require standardized test scores such as the SAT or ACT. Nor does this model ask applicants to submit personal statements or recommendation letters. This admissions model is most commonly used by community colleges in the U.S.

"Open admission exists for those institutions with a mission to provide equal access to a variety of educational backgrounds," says Dawn Wood, director of international programs at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa.

Woods points out that colleges with open admissions models provide higher education opportunities to students who may require additional academic preparation, students who are seeking vocational or technical education, or students interested in reducing the costs of a four-year degree through transfer partnerships with bachelor's-degree-granting universities.

[Watch out for five college admissions mistakes international students make.]

Threshold Admissions Model

Universities which use threshold admissions models are those who publish very clear standards of admission. They tend to provide a minimum required GPA, SAT or ACT score for admission, but will likely not request a personal statement, essay or letters of recommendation. This admissions model is used by many U.S. colleges and universities, and is common among public institutions.

Chuck May, director of admissions at the University of Missouri, believes that transparency in the admissions process is the hallmark of threshold admissions. "We are a selective university, and in making our admission criteria very clear, we're able to be open with students as to their likelihood of admission, from the start of our communication with them."

May says this model allows his admissions team to begin to explore whether or not the university is a good fit for a prospective student at a much earlier point in the college search process, "because we are most likely to receive applications from students who have already researched our academic standards for admission, and know where they fit in relation to those measures." 

[Take this quiz and see if you're ready to apply to U.S. universities.]

Holistic Admissions Model

Selectivity is also a tenet of the holistic admissions model. Where this process is employed, a university is more likely to provide the average academic profile of the previous year's admitted class. This gives some insight into what GPA and standardized test scores may be competitive for admission.

Additionally, holistic admissions will often require that applicants provide an essay and recommendations from teachers, counselors or other community leaders.

Seth Walker, associate director of international admissions at Indiana University—Bloomington, feels that the holistic admissions approach allows the school to consider the broader experiences of an applicant. "When we read an application, we hope to get a sense of what's brought that student to where they are today."

Walker says this model allows their admissions team to compose a class that is both strong in academic ability and diverse in experience.

Students can get a sense for which model of admissions will be used to review their application by visiting the admissions website of a university. It's important to know that many universities will employ some combination of these models.

Rinat offers this wisdom he received from his uncle, who suggested he think of his college applications like going on a date: "You ask questions, they ask questions, in the end you both have to decide if it's a match."

Rinat says that was the best advice he received. 

9 Ways to Find the Best College for You

From: http://time.com/money/4025938/find-the-best-college-for-you/

Build your own personalized college rankings using these important criteria.

Lots of magazines and websites publish lists of the “best colleges.” But those general purpose rankings may not put enough emphasis on the factors that are most important for you.

Finding a college that will be the best value for you is a little like choosing the best-value car. It won’t necessarily be the cheapest. It’s the one that will take you where you want to go in life at the most reasonable price.

MONEY’s annual Best Colleges list ranks schools based on 21 factors in three key categories: educational quality, affordability, and the career success of graduates. You can use many of these same criteria to identify the schools that will provide the best value for your particular student and financial situation. Here’s how and where to find the information you need.

QUALITY OF EDUCATION

1. Check on graduation rates. Research shows that graduation rates are the single best indicator of a college’s quality; students who don’t receive adequate support or don’t think they’re getting their money’s worth are more likely to transfer or drop out. Colleges are required to report their six-year graduation rates. Look for a rate of no less than the median for similar schools: 48% at public colleges and 58% at private ones.

HOW TO FIND IT: Collegeresults.org allows you to compare 4-, 5-, and 6- year graduation rates for your target college and similar schools. If your target college isn’t in the top half of the Collegeresults.org comparison, consider some schools that are above it.

2. Compare class sizes. Research shows that personal attention from professors pays off: Students who are mentored by a professor are 50% more likely to thrive in their careers, according to Gallup research. One good indicator is the percentage of each school’s classes with 20 or fewer students.

HOW TO FIND IT: Look up your colleges on Collegedata.com. Click on the academics tab.

3. Look beyond test scores. The average ACT or SAT scores of incoming freshmen will help you see how you’d stack up academically compared with other students. But even more important than those numbers is how well the college helps its students exceed expectations, given their academic and economic backgrounds.

HOW TO FIND IT: The MONEY College Planner gives each school a “Value Added” grade. A’s or B’s generally indicate better graduation rates and alumni earnings than other schools with similar students.

AFFORDABILITY

4. Maximize your merit aid odds. More than 90% of colleges give some merit aid. Your chances of getting a substantial amount will be best at private colleges where your grades and test scores put you in the top 25% of applicants.

HOW TO FIND IT: Collegedata.com provides information on the number and size of different kinds of aid awards. The premium search filters on theMoney College Planner allow you to build a list of schools that meet your criteria and are generous with need-based and/or merit-based aid.

5. Know your real cost. Don’t pay too much attention to the college’s official cost of attendance. Nearly 60% of students pay less than that. What you want to focus on is net price.

HOW TO FIND IT: Use the net price calculator on each college’s web site for an estimate of what you’ll have to pay based on your family’s income and resources. If you want to compare several colleges’ net prices at once try CollegeAbacus.org.

6. Calculate the full cost of a degree. Look beyond freshman year to calculate what each college would cost you for the four, or possibly more, years it could take to earn a degree. The best colleges graduate students in 4.5 years or less.

HOW TO FIND IT: The MONEY College Planner shows the average net price of a degree at 700+ colleges, based on factors including how long it takes students to graduate.

STUDENT OUTCOMES

7. Expect strong job help. An active, well-staffed career services office can help students write résumés, practice for job interviews, and connect with influential alumni. Colleges should have at least one career services staffer per 1,000 students, and follow industry standard best practices.

HOW TO FIND IT: Call or visit the career services office to ask.

8. Investigate internships. The best colleges help students get internships, which not only provide real-world experience but also increase the odds of landing a good job after graduation. Students who have had paid internships, research shows, are 70% more likely to get a job offer than those who had no internships or who had only unpaid internships.

HOW TO FIND IT: Call or visit the career services office to ask what it does to help place students. Also ask how many internships—especially in your major—are paid.

9. Check up on alumni earnings. The salaries of recent grads are a good indicator of how much employers value a degree from a particular school.

HOW TO FIND IT: Payscale.com lists average early and mid-career earnings for the graduates of most large colleges. Generally, your choice of college has greater impact on early career earnings than on mid-career salary, so that’s the more important number.

Why Colleges Want Ambitious and Dynamic Students

from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeannie-borin/why-colleges-want-ambitio_b_8096356.html

The college admissions process can be overwhelming for many families considering the competitive nature of admissions as well as the many variables high school students must take into account: challenging curriculum, strong essays, excellent standardized test scores (in most cases) and remarkable recommendation letters to name a few. In addition to students presenting these factors, it is essential for students to distinguish themselves, stress their additional activities and present themselves as ambitious and dynamic students.

It is not the quantity of activities presented but the depth and continuity of a few activities demonstrating focus and sincere interests.

Colleges want to accept students they believe will become actively engaged on their campuses. Once students have the required grade point average and test scores, admission officers look for those items that will set a student apart and enrich their incoming classes. Colleges want ambitious and dynamic students who will explore and take part in many campus activities. Their goal is to create a well-balanced class with students who have exceptional talents.

Although not everyone is a leader, it is important for students to have activities that encourage them to take on responsibilities, create new clubs and bring innovative ideas to campus. High school students may start out as a member of a club and rise to be president by the time they are seniors, for example.

Students who are active on campus tend to enjoy their college experience more with few if any reasons for transferring to another college. Colleges want to establish strong retention rates. So, they like students who remain productively engaged in campus activities. Colleges consider involved students as eventual alumni who may be potential contributors to that college.

Students should know that if their high schools do not offer the types of activities that interest them, there are countless community resources that can be researched. Remember that although grades, scores, essays and recommendations count, it's also the student's participation in things that the transcript does not reflect that also matter in admission decisions. Activities do not need to be directly related to the high school. Colleges want to know what students like to do in their free time. It is okay to list hobbies in which students are involved whether building computers, photography, cooking, learning magic or anything that demonstrates learning, enthusiasm, initiative and continuity.

The purpose of the activity resume is to give college officers better insight on the student, as they do want to learn as much about them as possible.

Your Crucial 1st Step Before Looking for Colleges

http://www.thecollegesolution.com/your-crucial-1st-step-before-looking-for-colleges/

If paying for college is going to be a challenge, and it usually is, it’s important that you obtain your Expected Family Contribution before your begin looking at colleges with your teenagers.
In fact, obtaining your EFC should be the FIRST STEP you take in the college process.
Here is a quick rundown of what an EFC is, why it’s important, how you can obtain this critical figure and what you should do after you’ve generated  it.

No. 1:

An Expected Family Contribution is a dollar figure that represents what financial aid formulas believe you should be able to pay for one year of a child’s college education.
Families with adjusted gross incomes of $24,000 have an automatic EFC of $0. The EFC for the average American household with an AGI of $55,000 will usually range from $5,000 to $6,000. There is no cap on EFCs so some wealthy families will have EFCs that exceed the cost of an expensive private university.

No. 2:

Determining if a student will be eligible for need-based aid requires subtracting the EFC from a school’s cost of attendance. The more expensive the school is, the more likely the student would qualify for financial assistance.


In the first example, the student wouldn’t qualify for any need-based help because the family’s ability to pay exceeds the cost of the school. In the second scenario, however, the same student would be eligible for up to $25,000 in need-based aid from the private college because the price of this institution is far more expensive and exceeds the family’s EFC.

No. 3:

Families, who discover that they have a high EFC and aren’t eligible for need-based financial aid, should look for schools that provide merit scholarships that are given regardless of need. Most schools fall into this category.

No. 4:

If your EFC is modest, you should search for schools that provide excellent need-based assistance. Far fewer colleges and universities fit into this category.

No. 5:

Families with household incomes of $60,000 to $80,000 and above typically find that they do not qualify for need-based aid at state universities, but they may qualify for need-based aid at private schools.

No. 6:

Families will usually have to pay more for college than their EFC indicates they can afford because most schools do not meet 100% of a student’s demonstrated financial need. Consequently, it’s important to identify the most generous colleges and universities that would consider your child an attractive candidate.

No. 7:

It’s best to get a ballpark idea of what your Expected Family Contribution will be as early as your child’s freshman year in high school. Obtaining a preliminary EFC will give you a rough idea of the minimum amount that you will be expected to pay for college.

No. 8:

You can obtain your Expected Family Contribution by using the College Board’s EFC Calculator.  With this calculator, you’ll want to obtain your EFC using the federal and institutional formulas. Here is a screenshot of the calculator:

The calculator will produce an EFC using the federal methodology that is linked to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
The calculator will also produce an EFC using the institutional methodology, which is linked to the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE, which is a product of the College Board. The vast majority of private and public colleges and universities only use the FAFSA while 260 mostly private, selective schools use the PROFILE.

No. 9:

When you complete the FAFSA, you will receive your official federal EFC via an electronic document called the Student Aid Report. The SAR will include the family’s Expected Family Contribution near the top of the report and also provide all the information that the family provided on the FAFSA. Parents should check for accuracy.

No. 10:

If you need to file the PROFILE, you will not receive your EFC from the College Board, which owns and operates this financial aid application. Institutions that use the PROFILE customize their aid applications by choosing from hundreds of different questions so you will end up with a different EFC for each school.

No. 11:

You should ask each PROFILE school for your EFC if the institutions do not include this important dollar figure on your financial aid awards.

No. 12:

Many schools fail to include a family’s EFC on their financial aid awards. Some institutions suggest that including the EFC on their aid letters will confuse families. More likely, schools don’t want to share EFC figures with families because parents would then be able to determine if the package is stingy.

No. 13:

Once you have your EFC and the financial aid package, compare your EFC with what a school is offering. Let’s say that the cost of a school after deducting institutional grants is $39,000 and your EFC is $28,000. That means there is an $11,000 gap between what your EFC suggests that you can pay and what the school wants to charge you.

No. 14:

Plug new numbers into the EFC calculator if your financial situation changes due to such things as a divorce, separation, death, disability, job loss or the care of an elderly parent.

No. 15:

Don’t be surprised if your EFC figures seem too high. The financial aid formulas as flawed and aren’t designed to accurately measure what you can actually afford to pay for college!

Countdown to College: 6 Tips to help make the final college decision

Just ask any family that is struggling with making the final college choice how envious they are of the families where it was a slam-dunk decision. It’s that time. A final college decision needs to be made and a deposit check needs to be received by May 1.

Here are some tips for families suffering through sleepless nights, pros and cons lists, self-doubt and the agony of indecision.

▪ Eliminate the colleges where the all-in price (tuition, room/board, expenses) makes you gasp loudly, where you just feel uncomfortable.

▪ Compare the financial aid packages of the remaining colleges on an apples-to-apples basis by creating a spreadsheet with the following headings: tuition, room, board and expenses (include travel and entertainment) equals Total Cost, and then grants and work-study with separate line items for subsidized loans and unsubsidized loans.

Remember, loans are just deferred payment, and no one wants to saddle young graduates with a lot of debt. Make sure the grants are applicable for all four years, because some colleges attract students with generous merit aid that is only available for their freshman year.

▪ Network socially. Join Facebook groups for admitted students, read reviews and/or chat with current students on College Confidential, speak to friends and neighbors who have children or relatives attending the colleges you’re considering.

▪ Compare the soft stuff. The emphasis on sports matters, whether the dining hall food is palatable matters, the culture of the campus and the surrounding area matters. Remember you’ll be living there four years.

▪ Evaluate the academics. Which companies are recruiting on campus? What is the grad school acceptance rate for your anticipated area of study? What is the depth and breadth of your major?

▪ Think beyond the workforce or grad school. Your college years should teach you how to think critically. Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., and author of “Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters,” says: “Your college education should prepare you to thrive by creating habits of mind and spirit that will continue to develop far beyond one’s university years. Thriving means realizing your capabilities, and a liberal education should enable you to discover capabilities you didn’t even know you had while deepening those that provide you with meaning and direction.”

He also share his thoughts on making the final decision, “Your college choice isn’t just about ‘fit’ and ‘comfort’; and it certainly shouldn’t be reduced to the prestige of the school or the amenities if offers.

“Your college choice should reflect your aspirations, where you can imagine yourself discovering more about the world and your capabilities to interact with it. The college you choose should be a place at which you can thrive, finding out so much more about yourself as you also discover how the world works, how to make meaning from it and how you might contribute to it.”

Bierer is an independent college adviser based in Charlotte. Send questions to: lee@collegeadmissionsstrategies.com; www.collegeadmissionsstrategies.com

"D" Day for College Is May 1: Four Steps to a Wise Choice

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-kaess/d-day-for-college-is-may-1-four-steps-to-a-wise-choice_b_7110638.html

We just passed "tax" day, but if you're a college-bound senior - or the parent of one - "D" day looms on May 1st. That's when students "decide" which school they'll attend, sending an official acceptance letter - with a "deposit" to hold space for the fall and reserve housing. Despite media hype, many students gain admission to their school of choice. College has also become the "default" choice for young women; according to a recent survey of roughly 60,000 households by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 72.7 percent of 2014 female high school graduates enrolled in college versus 64 percent of young men.

But what if you still have doubts?

Choosing the "wrong" school carries risks. Students happy with their choice today could see things differently in six months, because the reality of college life may prove a far cry from the marketing hype. It could be tough to make friends, or after a year you learn how rough it really is to get into the major or program that brought you there in the first place. And with college costs running over annually $42,000 for private 4-year schools and nearly $19,000 for in-state tuition, those choices come at a high price. Dropping out, starting over at a new school, or losing credits in a transfer compounds the hit.

The good news is that whether you attend a public or private school, attending--and most importantly -- graduating from college remains a smart choice. Overall, college graduates earn considerably more than those with a high school diploma, and have muchlower rates of unemployment throughout the economic cycle. And according to a recentstudy by the Pew Research Center, Millennials could become the most highly educated generation to date - with twice as many female college graduates compared with their grandmothers (known as the "silent" generation).

So let's break down the decision into four parts - the school, the package, and you -- with extras for those still seeking options.

Choice of School: If you have a "short list" of colleges that have accepted you, ask what attracted you to each one? Was it a "safe" school, a "party" school, or close to (far from) home? What percentage of freshmen drop out and how many finish in 4 years or even 6? What are the housing options and alternatives if they don't work? How secure is the campus for students in general and women in particular? Does the school help students find internships, outside programs and jobs?

Let's talk money. Forget the headline cost of tuition - look at the aid package offered to you - also called the "net price". The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has standard "shopping sheet" that breaks down costs clearly and explains basic terms - nearly 3,000 colleges and universities have adopted it since 2012. They also have an online comparison tool that helps families evaluate a few schools at once. And the outcome might surprise you. For public schools, the CUNY (City Universities of New York) system has some of the lowest "net prices" in the New York metro area and the country; at the other end of the scale, Stanford University recently announcedthat students from families earning below $125,000 generally won't pay tuition at all (this doesn't include room and board).

Chart Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

What about you? Do you believe you'll get into the program or major you want? Are you an artist looking at colleges majoring in Big 10 sports and Greek life? Does the campus have people who look like you and are there activities that reflect your culture? Will you be OK with the weather and does the surrounding area interest you? And how will this school or university help you graduate in a timely manner if you change majors?

If you're still happy with your original choice - congratulations! Now you can focus on finishing your senior year with solid grades and start the roommate selection process.

Other options: Still dissatisfied? Get ready to act immediately after "D" day. The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) releases a Space Available list right after May 1st and updates it regularly through mid-June. This list will mention whether a school has seats available for incoming freshmen, and whether financial aid and housing is still available. You must act quickly and know you're starting from scratch; schools will likely make a decision within six weeks.

But buyer beware - during this period colleges may focus on students who fill specific holes in their roster - students who apply for a less popular major, or accept diehard future engineers or business students to fill spots in those departments. They may also accept students who require less financial need or those willing to attend but not in their first choice of major. If you truly want to attend a specific school, speak up and let the admissions office know you really want one of those slots.

If none of the above works, community college might be the best bet while you improve skills, get focused, or go for a two-year Associates degree. If you plan to apply to another college afterward, explore whether those credits are transferable generally, or only to in-state schools. Failure to do this research can be as costly as choosing the wrong four-year school.

Yes, even for those on the cusp of adulthood and ready for freedom, that annoying question still rings true: have you done your homework? The choice is yours.

Would You Pay $47,000 for the University of Oregon?

http://www.thecollegesolution.com/would-you-pay-47000-for-the-university-of-oregon/

Last week at the exercise boot camp that I attend on Sunday mornings, I saw a mom who hadn’t been coming to the workouts for several months. The mom is divorced and is trying to support herself as a manicurist.

Her son is a high school senior so I had been giving her some college advice before she stopped showing up on Sundays.

When I saw her, I asked her if her son knew where he would be attending school in the fall.

She frowned and said, “He wants to go to the University of Oregon.”

I was stunned. “Oregon! Are you kidding me?”

I was not optimistic when I asked, “Did he get any money from Oregon?”

I wasn’t surprised when the mom said that her son’s package consisted entirely of loans for a school that will cost a nonresident at least $47,000.

The San Diegan teenager, who was attracted to Oregon because of its tremendous football success (!!!) is not dissuaded by the price tag.

Eighteen-year-olds seem immune to large price tags when loans can temporarily keep them from dealing with harsh financial realities. Making matters worse, the teachers at this teenager’s school are encouraging him to go to Oregon! Ryan’s dad is exploring how to make this work which would include a huge debt.

Universities Charge More When They Can

The steep price that Oregon is charging Ryan illustrates a classic supply-and-demand phenomenon. Public universities that are extremely popular with their own residents, as well as teenagers from other states, don’t have to offer much of a financial enticement (if any) to attract outsiders to their campuses. This same phenomenon is played out among private colleges and universities.

The Oregon flagship not only has a successful football program, but it is located next to the nation’s most populous state that doesn’t have enough capacity to educate its own college students. So many Californians are attending the U. of Oregon that it’s been called the University of California at Eugene.

Elite flagships are recruiting high-income students

U. of Michigan

When students contemplate the possibility of attending college outside their own state, they often put prominent state flagships on their dream lists. A major reason for this is because the typical teenagers and their parents unfortunately know of very few colleges and universities.

If you aren’t rich, however, I’d suggest that you not fall in love with name brand schools like the Universities of California, Michigan, Virginia, Texas or that are located in desirable geographic areas such as the University of Colorado and University of Vermont (both near mountains) and the University of Arizona and Arizona State (both temperate weather).

These schools and others with strong brand names are hungry for outsiders who can bankroll an education that can cost more than $200,000.

Some of these institutions, such as Michigan, provide token merit scholarships –  $5,742 is the average – but that won’t go far when you will be paying private school prices for state educations. Some prominent state universities, such as UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, don’t  award any merit scholarships to outsiders.

Getting Into a Flagship

It’s easier to gain admission into prestigious flagships as an outsider now because these institutions need the extra cash. Finding out-of-state sugar daddies is one way for these schools to attract new dollars. And it’s easier to entice rich students to their campuses than for these institutions to get serious about making meaningful structural changes.

I wrote a story for my college blog over at CBS MoneyWatch a few years ago about a dad, who works at Columbia University, whose daughter had planned to attend the University of Michigan. She attended the new student orientation in the summer before her dad noticed that he had misread the bill. He thought the tuition was going to be a total of $19,000, but that was the price per semester. Now the school’s tuition is $4,000 a year more.

Affluent students are the ones attending these popular schools because state universities almost never give need-based aid to nonresident applicants who can’t afford the tab. And that’s why I never would have recommended that Ryan apply to Oregon. The most he could have hoped for would have been a token scholarship and that would have barely made a dent in the cost.

As these flagships attract more higher-income students within their own borders and beyond, low and middle-income residents are getting less access to these institutions. In essence, these mighty institutions are becoming privatized.

State Schools Off the Radar

Unless you can afford to pay private-school prices for an education at a public university, I would suggest throwing a much wider net. If you look beyond the most popular flagships, plenty of state universities offer significant discounts to nonresidents.

The New York state universities (SUNY’s) , for instance, represent some excellent values. Unlike many states, New York state has continued to support its public universities at levels other state legislatures have long abandoned.

Another potential great buy is the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, which is a bargain compared to Michigan. I once asked a teenager why he thought that the University of Michigan is so much more popular than the U. of Minnesota, which is located in the Twin Cities. “Minnesota is cold,” he replied. I mentioned that Michigan is hardly a temperate climate. My theory is that Michigan has enjoyed a long and storied tradition of success in the Big 10 athletic conference and the Minnesota Gophers have not.

University of Utah

The scholarships for nonresidents can be more generous and prices much lower to begin with at schools that have to work harder to attract nonresidents. University of Arkansas, for instance, has tons of scholarships for nonresidents. A huge plus at Arkansas is the tremendous amount of internships for students because of Walmart’s proximity. Walmart requires major corporations to maintain an office in Arkansas so there are hundreds of corporate outposts in the state.

The University of New Mexico has impressive scholarships even for students with a 3.0 GPA and it’s located in a city (Albuquerque.) I am hoping that a daughter of a family friend, who is a gifted dancer, ends up at the University of Utah’s modern dance program, which is considered as good, if not better, than Julliard’s.

I could go on and on about the opportunities at state universities beyond the popular ones, but I think you get the picture.

Bottom Line: 

If you want to lock in better prices, you need to be more imaginative when looking for schools. You can’t continue to fish in the same pond as everyone else!

College Admissions: 5 Admission Factors You Can’t Predict

 http://www.golocalprov.com/lifestyle/college-admissions-5-admission-factors-you-cant-predict

As the last few colleges release admission decisions this week, many families are puzzled by outcomes. Their child had GPA and SAT/ACT scores that fell within range for a specific college, participated in an array of extra-curricular activities, and spent hours perfecting applications and essays. Still, he/she was rejected from their top choice college while another seemingly similar student was accepted the very same school. What happened?
The reality is that college decisions are predictable in some ways, but unpredictable in others. A certain GPA and SAT/ACT scores won’t guarantee a student admission anywhere. There are several criteria that parents and counselors simply can’t factor, and they can affect decisions immensely.

• The geographic, ethnic and gender mix that the college is seeking. Many colleges are striving to increase the number of minority and first generation students they enroll. Some schools are struggling to keep a balance of male and female enrollees (since women are going to college in higher numbers and men are dropping out more frequently). Additionally, colleges always like to have students on campus representing a wide variety of states and countries. In the last few years, we have seen Ivy League universities launch massive marketing campaigns to attract inner city, low income students. Some colleges, like College of Charleston, are pushing to enroll more young men to balance the male: female ratio. And the long running joke among elite northeastern colleges is that South Dakota is the best state to hail from, if you want a geographic advantage in admissions.
• Teacher and guidance counselor recommendations. While we all would like to think our child is adored by teachers and administrators, not all are. Certainly, we hope that teachers and counselors would not say anything negative about a student in their recommendation, but they sometimes do. It’s not common, but I have seen situations in which both top ranked and struggling students have been thrown under the admissions bus by a negative recommendation that was completely unexpected. More often, the recommender uses lackluster adjectives or certain code words that can trigger concerns with an admissions committee. In some cases, teachers and counselors send in form recommendations that a particular college sees over and over again. And sadly, they just can’t stack up against an effusive letter of praise by a teacher who espouses the student’s true, individual attributes. 
• What admissions officers want to see in student applications. Since admissions committee members vary from year to year, and a college’s values can shift, there is no predicting what will attract their attention on decision day. One year, the college may desperately be seeking French horn players, and the next they may place a high value on leadership roles in a community service organization. One admissions rep may connect with an essay that a student wrote on his/her sister with Autism. Another may be drawn to the detailed scientific explanation by the student who re-engineered his/her car computer system. Still another reader may gravitate toward a student who sees the lighter side of life through the eyes of a puppet they manipulate in a children’s theatre. There is no crystal ball for these sorts of situations.
• The applicant pool for various majors. It goes without saying that the competition in science and business majors is often fierce among elite university candidates. However, some schools pay more attention than others when they are considering the major (or undeclared status) you selected on your application. Some may be seeking classics majors one year to keep the doors open on that department. Other years, the number of psychology or political science majors may be overwhelming. Engineering schools may want more female candidates, and education departments may want more men. In other cases, colleges may not really care what major you applied under; they feel students switch majors and the pools in each department will balance out in the end.
• How an interviewer perceived the student. Not all colleges offer interviews, and even those that do may not use them in the admissions decision. For those that do: some 17 year olds have the social skills and intellectual savvy to ace the interview, others aren’t there yet. A student and interviewer may simply not “click." And, there are times when the admissions rep or alumni interviewer may simply feel that the candidate is not the right fit culturally or academically for the institution. You really have no way of knowing what was written about the student when he/she left the interview.

It’s often difficult to fathom why one student is accepted to a college and another is denied admission. The sharp pain of rejection can be brutal for students and parents. However, it’s critical to remember that there are a multitude of great schools in the U.S., and a student’s success is not predicated on attending one particular school. After all, less than 10% of Fortune 500 CEO’s went to an Ivy League college, and the doors to success are indeed open to students from all colleges.