College Costs
Why You Don’t Need a Student Credit Card
Beginning this week, it became much harder for college students to obtain a credit card.
Many college kids who aren’t 21 yet must get a cosigner to obtain a student credit card. Frankly, I think that’s a good thing.
A far better alternative to that first credit card in college is a debit card, which you can [...]
How Much is a College Degree Worth?
How much is a college degree worth?
Turns out that a bachelor’s degree might not be as valuable as you think.
For years the College Board has suggested that a college graduate earns about $800,000 more over his or her lifetime than high school graduates. This earnings figure, however, is apparently way off.
The real lifetime earnings advantage [...]
PLUS Loans: How Much Should Parents Borrow for College?
I wanted to follow up on yesterday’s post: How Much College Loan Debt Is Too Much?
In that post I talked about what is an acceptable level of college loans that students should assume. That post prompted Stuart, a blog visitor, to ask me this question about PLUS loans:
What about the parents? What is a reasonable [...]
Schools With the Best College Financial Aid – For Now
What schools offer the best college financial aid?
Last month, I wrote this post: 51 Colleges With the Best Student Financial Aid.
Please take a look at the list because it includes schools with awesome financial aid policies that will reduce your stress about how you will pay for college. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and [...]
What’s Wrong with Princeton Review’s Best Value College Rankings
Beware of The Princeton Review’s latest college rankings of the 100 Best Value Colleges for 2010.
Here’s why I’m not a fan of Princeton Review’s generous college rankings: Some parents who use this list on their college search could up spending more than $200,000 for a college degree. Some deal, huh?
Kiplinger’s best value college rankings doesn’t [...]
Top 10 College Websites for Finding Great Schools
Want to research colleges, but not sure where to start?
It’s no surprise. When I just typed “college” into Google, I got 634 million college websites. To make your job easier, I’m sharing wonderful websites that can help you assemble a great list of colleges.
If you want to research specific colleges, here are my Top 10 [...]
10 Great College Tips for 2010
Happy New Year. I want to usher in 2010 by sharing 10 of my college blog posts from last year that I think will help you:
Cut the cost of college.
Find scholarships.
Snag better financial aid packages.
Locate great schools.
Cutting the cost of college with better grades
How to Negotiate for a Better Financial Aid Package
Will Saving for College [...]
Student Loan Consolidation and Other Student Debt Strategies
What’ the right way to pay back your student debt?
It’s a question that puzzles a lot of college graduates, who are trying to figure out how to best juggle their student loans.
For some college grads, student loan consolidation will be a smart idea. What’s also important is choosing the right payment option for student debt.
Kathy [...]
Why A Tuition Hike At UCLA Is A Good Thing
Students at campuses across the University of California system rioted last week after the Board of Regents voted to increase undergraduate tuition by 32% next year. You can see video of the fee hike protest at UCLA here.
I want to play devil’s advocate and suggest that tuition hikes at UCLA and the other UC campuses [...]
Three Reasons Why You Should Apply for Financial Aid
Wondering if you should apply for financial aid.
Here’s the answer: Yes. You should file for financial aid.
During the past few hours, I heard that advice over and over. I was on the phone for a good part of the day interviewing financial aid experts for a story about the upcoming changes to the FAFSA or [...]
