The College Solution Blog by Lynn O'Shaughnessy

College Blog Post

UC And Cal State Crisis Prompts Students to Look Elsewhere

The University of California and the Cal State universities are in serious financial trouble. This reality is finally resonating with teenagers, which is why more of them have applied outside the state instead of assuming that their Cal State or UC admission applications will be successful.
With the UC And Cal State schools experiencing their biggest [...]

Lynn | March 12th, 2010 | Continued

College Blog Post

Why You Shouldn’t Apply to a Reach School

In my last post on deciphering financial aid letters, I focused on college grants. Grants are the best kind of aid that you can snag in a financial aid letter because these awards don’t have to be repaid.
College Grants: Decoding a Financial Aid Letter Part II
My son has been receiving financial aid awards from colleges [...]

Lynn | March 11th, 2010 | Continued

About this Site

I’m Lynn O’Shaughnessy. I am an author, a college blogger and speaker.
I write about college strategies for TheCollegeSolutionBlog and CBSMoneyWatch. I also give presentations about college strategies for schools, companies and financial advisory firms.
I started both my college blogs to help teenagers and their parents find the best colleges at the lowest prices possible. The [...]

Newest College Posts

College Grants: Decoding a Financial Aid Letter Part II

This is my second post on deciphering college financial aid packages. Yesterday, I explained what sort of federal financial aid assistance you might find in your financial aid award.
How To Decode a Financial Aid Letter
Today, I’m going to cover the types of college grants that parents typically find in a financial aid letter.
College Grants

Many families [...]

9Mar2010 | Lynn | 1 comment | Continued

How To Decode a Financial Aid Letter

It’s the college financial aid season.
Some parents are still struggling to complete their financial aid application, while others are just beginning to receive their financial aid packages in the mail.
Once you receive a financial aid award, the challenge is to decipher it. I’m going to help you master these financial aid letters by looking at [...]

8Mar2010 | Lynn | 0 comments | Continued

What’s Happening to the Average GPA?

Are college students getting smarter?
If you looked at the grades they are “earning,” you might assume the answer is yes. The average GPA in college is 3.1. At private schools, the norm is a 3.3 GPA. In contrast, the typical college student had an average GPA of 2.52 in the 1950s.
In nearly every decade, the [...]

5Mar2010 | Lynn | 0 comments | Continued

Are School Counselors the Weakest Link?

I heard from some high school counselors yesterday, who were furious with me. I wrote a post for my other college blog at CBSMoneyWatch about a new study that suggests that plenty of school counselors would flunk out if they were graded like their students.
In the Public Agenda survey, which was funded by the Bill [...]

4Mar2010 | Lynn | 1 comment | Continued

7 Myths About Financial Aid

Will your family qualify for college financial aid?
I bet you that most parents think they won’t qualify for financial aid although most will. Here’s a shocker: even families that make $150,000 or even $200,000 may qualify for close to $25,000 in financial aid at very expensive schools.
In the college admission process, financial aid misconceptions can [...]

3Mar2010 | Lynn | 1 comment | Continued

What You Don’t Know About Liberal Arts Colleges

Yesterday I wrote this post about liberal arts colleges:
Which is Better: A Liberal Arts College or a University?
At the time, I promised that I’d summarize a thoughtful op-ed piece that Sanford J. Ungar, the president of Goucher College, wrote for the special liberal arts report that ran in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Unfortunately, [...]

2Mar2010 | Lynn | 1 comment | Continued

Which is Better: A Liberal Arts College or University?

Which is better — a liberal arts college or a university?
Last night I had a conversation with one of my nephews, who is torn between attending Truman State University, a wonderful public liberal arts college, or the University of Missouri in Columbia, which happens to be my alma mater.
I’m proud of Tommy for being so [...]

1Mar2010 | Lynn | 1 comment | Continued

Top 10 Books That College Students Are Reading

Want to know what college students are reading?
The Chronicle of Higher Education recently surveyed dozens of colleges and universities across the country to compile this top 10 college reading list. You won’t find any heavy literature on this list that includes three books dripping with zombie and vampire antics.
I’d recommend reading No. 2 and No. [...]

28Feb2010 | Lynn | 0 comments | Continued