College Admissions Counseling Blog

I have decided to move the blog to another site to hopefully make it more useful to my readers. The new blog is at www.collegeadmissionspartners.com/blog. All of the articles on this blog have been transferred over so you will still be able to find old postings.

I have also started posting on the new blog so head on over there to see the latest from the world of colleges admissions. If you have this site bookmarked or use the RSS feed, make sure you change over to the new site. We will see you over there.

For most students the question of how a college spends the money you send each term is never considered. But it should be a consideration because the quality of education you receive may depend on the answer. A new report from the Lumina Foundation examines the question of college spending in detail and

the findings of the report, at least in general, is an issue that families should be aware of before choosing a particular type of college. For people who are interested in all of the numbers the report makes fascinating reading. For those of you less inclined to look at charts, InsideHigherEd has a nice summary of some of the key data.

Want the Cliff Notes version? Spending per student at public community colleges and master's level institutions is going down while these very institutions are the one's most likely to educate first generation and minority students. In other words, the amount of money the college spends to educate you depends on whether you are new to the college scene or whether you family has a better understanding of how colleges work. Generally, the higher your economic status the more likely you are to get a better college education.

We all want to believe that if you are motivated and work hard that the dream of a great college education is possible. And for some that is true. But for many students new to the process of finding a college, the easy choices, the community colleges and other public schools, are becoming less attractive as educational institutions because of the problems with financing public education that has been ongoing for some time in this country. Students and their families need to educate themselves about how a college spends its money and ask the tough question of whether the public or for profit college really is the best choice. More money may or may not be the answer for the public colleges, but if this country wants to continue to have a strong public higher education system, legislatures and the colleges themselves, need to take a look at changing the way they finance their operations.

As many of you know, the College Board changed the SAT in 2005 to add a writing section to the required test. There have been many criticisms of the new writing test since that time and many colleges either don't consider it or give it limited consideration. Several new studies, however, indicate that the writing test is actually a better predictor of college grades than the critical reading and math tests from the SAT. The studies come from the College Board and the University of California. The writing test was originally added to the full SAT at the insistence of the University of California which had threatened to stop using the SAT unless changes were made.

Although I think there are still substantial concerns about the validity of the writing section of the SAT, it appears that with these new studies more colleges will reevaluate their usage of the writing section.

Now that most students have decided where they will be in the fall, the thoughts are turning to getting ready for the college experience. One of the ways to ensure a good experience is by staying healthy in college. Here is a link to 101 health and wellness tips for college students. This is a good synopsis of some of the issues related to staying healthy in college.

The University of Vermont has announced that they will be offering grants to cover the cost of tuition and costs to all Vermont undergraduates who are eligible for Pell Grants and who are Vermont residents. This policy will begin with the 2008 entering fall class and will be phased in over the next 4 years to include all undergraduates eligible for the Pell Grant.

The announcement makes it clear that the grants are for tuition and costs only which means that these students will still have some obligation to pay for room, board and books. Still it is good to see a state university taking action to improve the financial aid available to the neediest of their students. As noted in the past few months, more and more of the colleges without tremendous endowments are figuring out ways to improve their financial aid without breaking the bank. Hopefully more college will continue to follow the lead of those colleges that have improved their financial aid in the past year.

I have discussed many issues surrounding the college admissions process on this blog and I hope they have been helpful. But there other resources out on the web discussing college admissions. The problem is separating the good information from the not so good.

A new resource that has been put together is the Carnival of College Admissions. Brian Carver over at Accepted to College began this project and, although still in its infancy, it shows much promise. Basically, the Carnival consists of submissions from various resources throughout the web that deal with the world of college admissions. In the few weeks that the Carnival has been going there have been some wonderful submissions. And for those who are wondering, you will find a few of my submissions as well.

If you are in the search for the right college, take a look over at the Carnival of College Admissions to get some other perspectives on the college search. Enjoy the new resource.

There is a new article discussing the increased wait list numbers being used this year by some of the highly selective colleges. Although I have already reported on the increased wait lists this year, this article is interesting as it provides more detailed information on how unlikely, and unpredictable, getting off a wait list is at many colleges. Amherst placed 1,400 students on their wait list this year in their effort to fill a class of 440. According to the article this was up 40% from last year. However, according to the Common Data Set information from Amherst itself, last year saw 1462 students offered a wait list placement.

According to Amherst's Common Data Set information in 2007 they took no students off the wait list. In 2006 they took 2 students off the wait list and none in 2005. However, in 2004, Amherst took 78 students off the wait list and 72 in 2003. These numbers would indicate that based on the most recent years, it is likely that Amherst will take few, if any, students from the wait list. But students on the wait list will hope that this year is a repeat of 2003 and 2004.

Students on a wait list at Amherst, or most selective colleges, are unlikely to gain admission off the wait list. They need to understand this and prepare alternatives in case they do not get off the wait list. And hope that this is one of the years when their wait list college accepts more than the normal number.

One of the issues that experienced college counselors understand is that there are certain groups of students who have a much better chance for admission at selective colleges. One such group are legacy students, those students who have a parent who attended the college the students is applying to. ABC news has examined this group of students in a new article discussing the lack of information colleges make available about legacy students.

Legacy admissions must be considered even by those students who do not have legacy status. The stated admission rates include the admission rates for legacy students, as well as other groups such as recruited athletes. The result is that the actual admission rate for the typical student who does not belong to one of these groups is much lower than the stated admission rate.

College admissions is not a perfect system but the more the prospective student understands the issues and limitations, the more likely that they will make appropriate choices.

Amherst College has announced that they are extending their need blind admission policy to international students. Need blind admissions means that Amherst will admit international students without regard to their ability to pay for their college education. This makes Amherst one of only 8 colleges in the US that offers need blind admission to international students.

It is difficult for many deserving international students to seek admissions to US colleges because they can't afford the cost. Amherst's move to need blind admissions is good news for all international students seeking to attend college in the US.

Oberlin College has announced that they are eliminating all loans for students who receive Pell grants and replacing the loans with grants. Pell grant recipients typically come from low income families making less than $35,000 a year. About 12% of Oberlin's 2,800 students receive Pell grants.

Although Oberlin's move will effect a limited number of students it is an innovative way to use limited resources to improve the financial aid package of those students least able to afford college. Hopefully more colleges will continue the trend of improving the financial aid available to their students.

The Boston Globe is reporting that the number of students on the wait list at some well known colleges is up this year. The wait list is used by colleges to ensure they have enough students in the fall if the students they have admitted decide not to attend. It can be a very difficult time for the student placed on the wait list particularly if the college in question is one of the student's first choices. The reality that needs to be faced by students placed on the wait list is that most of the highly selective colleges don't actually take many students off the wait list. Some college take almost none. For many students the best option is to look at the colleges that have accepted you and use that as the basis for deciding where to attend.

Receiving any letter other than an acceptance letter is difficult for any student. If you receive a wait list letter from one of your top choice colleges, take several days to review all of your options. If you are seriously considering staying on a wait list, contact the college that wait listed you and ask them how many students have been placed on the wait list this year as well as for each of the past two years and how many students were accepted from those lists. Often the answer to that question will help you make the decision of whether to stay on the wait list or not.

During this time also look more closely at the colleges that have accepted you. You may find that one of these colleges that wants you is preferable to the college that wait listed you. For more discussion of the wait list and how to handle it go to the wait list page on my site.

Inside Higher Ed had an interesting, although depressing, article today on the state of equality in college admissions. Part of that article discussed a paper entitled "Is 1500 the new 1280? The SAT and admissions since Bakke" by Catherine L. Horn of the University of Houston and John T. Yun, of the University of California at Santa Barbara. This paper looked at the average verbal SAT score of students at the 30 top colleges and universities as determined by the US News rankings.

In 1989 only one of these 30 colleges reported that more than 30% of the freshman class had a verbal SAT score above 700. Currently, more than 30% of the freshman class had verbal SAT scores above 700 at all but four of these colleges. At half of these colleges more than 50% of the freshman had verbal SAT scores above 700. The implication discussed by the paper is the shift in admissions by elite colleges to students who score very high on standardized testing.

There is no question that the number of high test scorers has increased in the last 20 years. However, SAT test scores from 1989 can not be directly compared to current test scores without an adjustment. Because of declining average test scores between approximately 1975 and 1995 the SAT was "re-centered" in 1995. In effect this added approximately 100 points the the average test score to bring the average back to around 500. The amount of score increase varied depending on the score but this factor cannot be ignored.

A second issue is that almost all of these colleges take the highest verbal score from multiple exam dates. It is possible that students are taking more exams now than in 1989 and thus have more opportunity to gain a high score.

Finally, the effect of test preparation must be considered. I believe that the number of students who participate in test prep classes at this time exceeds the number that prepared for these tests in 1989. Multiple studies have shown that a certain level of improved performance can be gained by most students who prepare for these exams.

I have not had a chance to read the study mentioned and hopefully these factors were taken into consideration. While it may be nice to argue that these colleges should take more chances on students who score low on these exams, it is unlikely that the colleges will do so unless there is a universal replacement of these tests for college admissions. I am not a fan of standardized testing but I will be surprised if the SAT is replaced anytime soon.

The New York Times had a recent article discussing athletic scholarships and the fact that most athletic scholarships do not cover the full cost of a college education. This article should be read by any student or parent who is under the believe that their athletic prowess can get them a full ride to any college. It is true that top athletes in the money sports of football and basketball can get some attractive offers of aid but these are the unusual case, not the rule.

As I have said on this blog on some many other occasions, students and parents need to understand financial aid as a whole package and not just rely on the hope for an athletic scholarship. Otherwise, the disappointment may be greater than necessary.

Lafayette College in Pennsylvania has announced their new financial aid policy. This new policy will eliminate loans for students with family incomes below $50,000 and will cap loans at $2,500 per year for students from families with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000. This new policy applies to both new students and continuing students. Lafayette has also announced that they will be increasing the size of the faculty by 35 positions in the next 5 years which is an approximate 20% increase in the size of the faculty. This will be done without increasing the size of the student body.

Congratulations Lafayette.

Claremont McKenna College, part of the Claremont consortium of colleges, has announced that they are eliminating all loans from financial aid packages and replacing them with grants. Claremont McKenna has a relatively small endowment of $475 million and it is further encouragement that the move to reduce or eliminate loans is working its way down to colleges with smaller endowments. Of course, $475 million is still a very substantial endowment but it only ranks Claremont McKenna at number 146 on the NACUBO list of 2007 endowments.

Congratulations to Claremont McKenna in making this decision even with the endowment they have.

Lehigh University in Pennsylvania has announced a new financial aid policy to help students afford the cost of and education at Lehigh. The new policy eliminates loans for students with family incomes below $50,000. For those families with incomes between $50,000 and $75,000, loans will be capped at a maximum of $3,000 each year. To help offset the decreased loan obligations those students who have loans eliminated or reduced will have their work study awards increased 25% to $2,200 per year. Finally, Lehigh will be making additional funds available for financial aid to international students with demonstrated need.

This new policy by Lehigh is exactly the sort of policy that I had hoped would start occurring after the most selective colleges starting announcing new financial aid policies. The pressure is mounting on those colleges, like Lehigh, that are just below this level of selectivity. The policy of Lehigh acknowledges that having a certain level of loan obligation on graduation is not terrible as long as the amount of the loan is not too great. I hope more colleges will continue this trend of improving financial aid for their students.

Vassar College has announced that they are eliminating all loans for students from families making less than $60,000 a year and replacing them with grants. This will effect new as well as continuing students effective this fall.

This is particularly encouraging news since Vassar, while having a substantial endowment, has less of an endowment than many of the other colleges that have recently announced new financial aid policies.

Columbia announced today that they are revising their financial aid policy. Students attending Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science whose families have annual income below $60,000 will have no contribution requirement. For families with incomes between $60,000 and $100,000 families will have their expected contribution reduced. The announcement does not make clear how the contribution is to be determined for this range of incomes. Columbia also announced that they will eliminate loans from all financial aid packages.

Columbia is now the final member of the Ivy League to announce revised financial aid policies.

MIT is the latest college to announce a new financial aid policy aimed at helping students from lower income families. MIT's new policy will provide that families earning less than $75,000 will not pay any thing for tuition. Also, students from families earning less than $75,000 a year will have all loans eliminated and replaced with grants. This new policy also provides that families with less than $100,000 annual income will not have home equity considered in awarding financial aid and all students with work study with have the number of required hours lowered.
br>MIT has historically had strong financial aid and it is good to see them further strengthening their support for making an MIT education affordable for all students.

Carleton College has announced a new scholarship program aimed at reducing the loan obligation for its neediest students. The Access Scholarship program is targeted at families with incomes less than $75,000. Under this new program, families with annual income of less than $40,000 will get an additional scholarship of $4,000 annually, families with incomes between $40,000 and $60,000 will get an additional scholarship of $3,000 annually, and families with income between $60,000 and $75,000 will get an additional $2,000 annual scholarship. Carleton meets 100% of the need for all students so this additional scholarship will go directly to reducing loan obligations.

This new program is good news for Carleton students but is less generous than the programs that have recently been announced by many of its peer colleges. Carleton is in the middle of a $300 million fund raising effort and they will hopefully be able to consider the elimination of loans once these additional funds are raised.