The Answer Sheet: College Costs


Posted at 10:40 AM ET, 12/08/2010

Schools eligible for 2011 John Lennon Scholarship

By Valerie Strauss
The John Lennon Scholarship Program created by Yoko Ono is now accepting applicants from a certain group of schools. Here they are.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:40 AM ET, 12/08/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs | Tags:  Appalachian State University, Bard College, Belmont University, Berklee College of Music, Birmingham-Southern College, Brown University, California State University Northridge, Carnegie Mellon University, Catawba College, City College of New York, Clark Atlanta University, Colorado State University, Columbia College (Chicago), DePaul University, Drexel University, Elmhurst College, Emory University, Florida State University, Full Sail, Georgia State University, Harvard University, Hunter College, Indiana University, Ithaca College, Lehigh University, Loyola University (New Orleans), Michigan State University, Middle Tennessee S. University, Millikin University, New England Conservatory, New York University, Northwestern University, Oberlin College, Purchase College (SUNY), UCLA, University of Alabama, University of California Los Angeles, University of Cincinnati, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Florida, University of Houston, University of Idaho, University of Memphis, University of Miami, University of Michigan, University of North Alabama, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, University of North Texas, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, University of Utah, Vanderbilt University, Wilkes Community College, Yale University, john lennon, john lennon scholarships, menc, national association for music education, yoko ono

Posted at 01:13 PM ET, 10/28/2010

New college rankings based on quality, cost
By Valerie Strauss
The folks at Kiplinger.com, which offers financial advice, did some numbers crunching and came up with their list of the best values in private universities and liberal arts colleges, taking quality and cost into consideration.

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:13 PM ET, 10/28/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs | Tags:  best values in education, caltech, college costs, duke, harvard, higher education costs, kiplingers, kiplingers best values, mit, princeton, private schools, rice university, swarthmore college, total college costs, yale

Posted at 10:50 AM ET, 10/25/2010

College fees: Not just for books and athletics

By Valerie Strauss
Fees aren’t just for books, student clubs and athletics anymore. Schools keep coming up with different ways to squeeze money out of their students.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:50 AM ET, 10/25/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs | Tags:  college costs, college fees, freshman orientation, health center, health insurance, late fees, late registration, library fees, parking fees, registration fees

Posted at 01:37 PM ET, 09/13/2010

Student loan default rates increase -- especially at for-profit schools
By Valerie Strauss
The national student loan default rate is rising, according to new statistics released today, and students who obtain loans to attend for-profit loans are more likely to default than those in non-profit institutions.

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:37 PM ET, 09/13/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs | Tags:  college costs, for-profits and students loans, loan default rate increases, student loans, students and loan student rate

Posted at 03:18 PM ET, 09/10/2010

Skipping college to save money? Oh please
By Valerie Strauss
A hedge fund manager, Formula Capital President James Altucher, is quoted in a Washington Post article today as saying this: "You’ve been fooled into thinking there’s no other way for my kid to get a job . . . or learn critical thinking or make social connections.” Really now. How many people, do you suppose, he would want to hire?

By Valerie Strauss  |  03:18 PM ET, 09/10/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs | Tags:  James Altucher, benefits of college degree, formula capital, is college overrated?, price tag of college degree, s, what is a college degree worth

Posted at 01:55 PM ET, 05/04/2010

Who borrows most for college? New report
By Valerie Strauss
Two-thirds of students who graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree also leave with some amount of student loan debt, according to a new analysis.

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:55 PM ET, 05/04/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs | Tags:  borrowing for college, college board, college board report, college costs, college loans, for-profit schools, paying for college, private student loans, student loans

Posted at 10:56 AM ET, 04/08/2010

Kiplinger’s new tool for understanding financial aid
By Valerie Strauss
Kiplinger's has a new online tool to help families understand financial aid letters sent from colleges and universities.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:56 AM ET, 04/08/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs | Tags:  Kiplinger's, financial aid, kiplinger's and financial aid, money for college

Posted at 06:33 AM ET, 04/05/2010

Negotiating the price of college -- Flagel, Part 4
By Valerie Strauss
Here is the fourth and last part of a college financial aid primer by Andrew Flagel, dean of admissions and associate vice president for enrollment development for George Mason University in Virginia: "The months that colleges and universities package financial aid – can seem a little dirty. I’m not talking DIRTY – I’ve yet to hear about a colleague finding a way to engineer financial aid kickbacks or helping the cartels launder money through financial aid. Clearly, however, the process is neither transparent nor easy to understand. For years I’ve listened to my colleagues cry that we’re NOT used car dealers (by the way, I know some very ethical car dealers), but in the end, it comes down to a basic question for most families: Can we negotiate/change the amount we’ll pay for school?”

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:33 AM ET, 04/05/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs | Tags:  Andrew Flagel, financial aid, negotiating price

Posted at 06:31 AM ET, 04/05/2010

Scholarships: Who gets them and why--Flagel, Part 2
By Valerie Strauss
Here is the second part of a primer on financial aid by Andrew Flagel, dean of admissions and associate vice president for enrollment development for George Mason University in Virginia: "No matter how incredible your academic record, you’ll likely be shocked when that kid who slept all through junior year gets a larger scholarship from the same school. How is this possible? Just remember, scholarships are awarded to help colleges and universities get the students they want to enroll, not to be fair, just, or even reasonable.”

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:31 AM ET, 04/05/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs | Tags:  andrew flagel, college costs, financial aid

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 04/05/2010

Merit-based aid is "to buy students"--Flagel, Part 1
By Valerie Strauss
Here is the first of four posts on financial aid for college, written by Andrew Flagel, dean of admissions and associate vice president for enrollment development for George Mason University in Virginia. Says Flagel: “The vast majority of merit-based aid is used, to put it bluntly, to buy students.”

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 04/05/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs | Tags:  college costs, financial aid, merit-based aid, need-based aid

Posted at 11:55 AM ET, 03/22/2010

Obama's student loan reform -- a no-brainer
By Valerie Strauss
The Obama administration deserves applause by passing major student loan reform that will save billions of dollars over the next 10 years, despite efforts to stop it that sometimes were just plain silly.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:55 AM ET, 03/22/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs | Tags:  college costs, student loan reform

Posted at 07:41 PM ET, 03/15/2010

Former Bush official backs student loan reform

By Valerie Strauss
A former Bush administration official whose job it was to implement No Child Left Behind is urging her fellow Republicans to pass student loan reform legislation that also helps community colleges and early childhood education.

By Valerie Strauss  |  07:41 PM ET, 03/15/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs, College Costs, College Costs, College Costs | Tags:  No Child Left Behind, student loans

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 01/12/2010

Costs of public vs. private college
By Valerie Strauss
Let’s do a little price comparison, now that Kiplinger Personal Finance has named its best values in both public and private colleges and universities for 2010. As you might expect, the sticker price difference is enormous (depending on your definition of enormous). Kiplinger, which offers financial advice, reported that 39 of the top 100 four-year public institutions of higher education charged about the same or less than the average annual in-state full price, which was $15,213. Many were a lot lower. The average total per year for a student in a private school is $35,600, according to the non-profit College Board, which owns and administers the SAT.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 01/12/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs, College Costs | Tags:  college costs

Posted at 04:49 PM ET, 01/07/2010

11 public colleges in Va., Md. called great values
By Valerie Strauss
Public colleges and universities in Maryland and Virginia did exceptionally well in Kiplinger's new listing of best values in public higher education. Virginia has six schools in the top 100 and two in the top 10, while Maryland has five schools in the top 100 and one in the top 10.

By Valerie Strauss  |  04:49 PM ET, 01/07/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  College Costs | Tags:  Kiplingers, cost of education