February 11th, 2009 — College Selection, The Best Colleges
This article from MarketWatch discusses strong evidence for why location matters when choosing a college. The best location for college is going to have low cost of living but offer lots of opportunity.
“I’ve talked to hundreds of seniors in college who have told me that they didn’t realize how important college location was until they got to school. But it should be one of the top considerations for students and parents,” said Todd Hoffman, a college researcher and consultant.
The best place to go to college ultimately comes down to personal preferences. Do you need city life to feel happy? Do you need to be near family? What are your post-graduate plans? All of these things should weigh heavily when choosing a college.
Moral of the story: don’t choose a college based on reputation alone. Some of the best colleges are in bad locations which make it harder to get a job after college not to mention contribute to depression (lack of contentment, no access to favorite activities, too cold, too hot, not near family, etc.) during school. the best place for college comes down to your career goals. But you can’t go wrong in choosing a location that offers low cost of living, abundant job opportunities, and high earning potential.
February 10th, 2009 — Best Online Colleges, Online Degree Programs
College Crunch has a nice overview of colleges with the best online psychology degrees available today. In the article they highlight three of the best online psychology programs for getting a degree in psychology. Included on the list are:
- Walden University
- Liberty University
- Capella University
February 10th, 2009 — College Software
Looking for the best free software and tools for college students? You don’t have to look any further. We’ve compiled a list of the best resources online to find free alternatives to the expensive software you often have to purchase.
February 10th, 2009 — Financial Aid, Most Affordable
US News & World Report has a thought provoking piece on why Black Colleges might be the best bargains in higher education during this economy, especially as many have open enrollment for people of all races:
But all of this may create an unprecedented opportunity for the HBCUs that have proved they can turn disadvantaged kids into stars at a comparatively low cost. Morehouse, for example, is attracting all kinds of applicants interested in a small private college education with a sticker price about $15,000 lower than those of elite majority-white schools in the Northeast. Last year’s valedictorian was white, for example. And for his medical school classes, Paul says, “I just want the brightest people. I don’t care if they are grey, yellow …”
Read more at US News & World Report
December 15th, 2008 — Hidden Gems, The Best Colleges
One of my friends attended West Virginia Wesleyan College and when he heard that I run a site on the Best Colleges, he told me I had to write about his alma mater.
According to my friend, West Virginia Wesleyan College has the following benefits:
A top notch faculty that is student-centric.
Not only are the faculty members extremely well educated and smart, but they also teach the joy of learning. They encourage discovery while at the same time challenging you to think deeply.
Continue reading →
November 29th, 2008 — College Rankings, The Best Colleges
When looking for a college or university to go to in order to receive your business degree, it is always nice to have some resources that rank the top schools. We went around the net collecting many different lists of the best business schools to help you make your decision.
Forbes: The Best Business Schools
Business Week: Best Bang For Your Buck
College Crunch: Top Business School Rankings
Yahoo: The Best Business Schools of 2008
BSJ: The Top 10 Business Schools
November 15th, 2008 — College Rankings
If you ask any random person what the best colleges in the United States are and they will probably start with the typical premier Ivy League schools like Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Once they are done with those schools, they will move on to other prestigious schools like Stanford and MIT.
The perception of prestige is rooted deep within our culture. Ask any early teen kid where he wants to go to college and he’s likely to name one of the few with high prestige.
Continue reading →
October 16th, 2008 — College Discussions
Famous People went to college too, over on College Crunch they have come up with a list of famous people and highlighted what colleges they went too. What is even cooler is these archaic photos they seemingly dropped all over the page. Where they found that aged photo of Steve Jobs is beyond me but its rather humorous. Imagine this could be you in a few years. Famous and on someones list. Although I doubt it unless you find your college pretty quickly.
Do celebrities influence your college selection choice? I am sure they do if they are athletes. I can imagine an athlete may want to follow in the footsteps of an idol. But what about normal folks. Do we attend the school that our fathers attended because we look up to them, or do we come to our own conclusion?
October 16th, 2008 — Financial Aid
Have you heard of Sallie Mae? Sallie Mae was started in 1972 as a Government Sponsored Entity however by 2004 it has been privatized and is now a totally independent entity and its on the stock market but appears to be doing just fine even surrounded by all the chaos that has struck the rest of the economy.
Sallie Mae®, the nation’s leading provider of student loans and administrator of college savings plans, has helped millions of Americans achieve their dream of a higher education. The company primarily provides federal and private student loans for undergraduate and graduate students and their parents.
Sallie Mae is going strong and should be the first place you turn when looking to build your finacial aid packages for college or graduate school. Sallie Mae is also the parent company of Upromise a college savings program you probably have seen all around the internet and in financial aid informational packages.
October 14th, 2008 — College Discussions
The economic crisis isn’t just shrinking retirement funds. Many families are watching the money they put away for their children’s college tuition dissipate.
Let your financial aid officer know what your specific situation is. If it’s changed significantly, you may be eligible for more aid than you were in the past. A drastic loss of income in the family can change your eligibility for financial aid.
One thing I would strongly recommend is setting up a secondary savings fund for misc. college expenses that before you were not saving for. Such things as food,and other expenses that maybe you werent planning on setting aside. With the rising cost of college and economic hard times it can never be enough to set aside additional savings.
You can also use services like BillShrink, a service that will help you save money on common things like cell phone plans. Take the money you save from Bill Shrink and push it into a savings account for future expenses and you will be much better prepared for educational expenses in the future.
