The College Solution, 2nd Edition

07/30/2012 · No Responses

This bestseller has been completely updated to provide you with the answers that you need to find wonderful colleges and universities at more affordable prices.

The second edition of The College Solution, which contains approximately 90% new material, is aimed at helping parents and teenagers become empowered consumers as they navigate through the college process. Billions of dollars are available to pay for college, but not everybody gets their share. It’s not always the families with the brightest students or the parents who are struggling financially who receive the most money.

The College Solution shares the secrets of how you can capture some of this money for your own family. The book provides advice on such topics as financial aid, merit scholarships, athletic scholarships, admission hooks, the important differences between colleges and universities, college rankings, the best student loans and the latest online tools to evaluate the generosity of schools. O’Shaughnessy presents an easy-to-use, proven road map for getting past the ratings, and finding the right schools at the right price. No other book offers this much practical guidance on choosing and paying for college now – and no other book will save you as much money!

Review
“The College Solution provides a roadmap for students and parents trying to figure out the complex path to college. At every step along the process, Lynn O’Shaughnessy provides the necessary information families need to know about admissions and financial aid in an easy-to-digest format. Students and parents are inundated with information about college these days and this is a great book to help you figure out what really matters.”
—Jeffrey J. Selingo, vice president and editorial director, The Chronicle of Higher Education

“Chock-full of information about college entrance and affordability, O’Shaughnessy’s second edition of The College Solution is sure to raise your admission and financial aid ‘IQ.’”
—Seth Allen, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Pomona College

“The College Solution is an easy-to-read conversational guide to paying for college. Lynn O’Shaughnessy is a champion for consumers and will help you pick the college that is the best fit for you and your wallet.”
—Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Fastweb.com and FinAid.com and the author of The Secrets to Winning a Scholarship

“Even though I’ve been labeled a ‘college admissions expert,’ this is a book that I wish I had read when my son was still in high school. Jam-packed with information about testing, college essays, interviews, financial aid, and much, much more, this highly readable guide will help parents and their children through an often confusing process.”
—Robert Schaeffer, a founder of The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest)

Table of Contents
PART I. Shrinking the Cost of College
Chapter 1. Making College More Affordable
Chapter 2. Show Me the Money
Chapter 3. The Colleges with the Best Financial Aid
Chapter 4. Who Gets Financial Aid?
Chapter 5. Winning the Educational Lottery
Chapter 6. Calculating Your Expected Family Contribution
Chapter 7. A Revolutionary Calculator
Chapter 8. The Allure of Out-of-State Public Universities
Chapter 9. Looking Across State Lines for a Bargain
Chapter 10. Capturing Private Scholarships
Chapter 11. Will Saving for College Hurt Your Financial Aid Chances?
Chapter 12. Maximizing Financial Aid
Chapter 13. More Ways to Shrink the Cost of College
Chapter 14. Appealing the Verdict
Chapter 15. Getting Grandma to Help

PART II. Increasing Your Admission Chances
Chapter 16. Boosting Your Chances
Chapter 17. Finding the Right Match
Chapter 18. Ditching the Test
Chapter 19. Showing a College Some Love
Chapter 20. When Talent Is the Hook
Chapter 21. The Realities of Athletic Scholarships
Chapter 22. The Geographic Hook
Chapter 23. Why Being Rich Helps
Chapter 24. The Legacy Hook
Chapter 25. Playing the Gender Card
Chapter 26. Diversity Blueprint
Chapter 27. The Asian Student Dilemma

Part III. Knowing Your Academic Choices
Chapter 28. What’s the Difference Between a College and a University?
Chapter 29. The Ivy League Myth
Chapter 30. What Is a Research University?
Chapter 31. What University Professors Do
Chapter 32. The Beauty of Liberal Arts Colleges
Chapter 33. What Is a Medium-Sized University?
Chapter 34. Why Community Colleges Are Popular
Chapter 35. Nine Ways to Generate College Ideas

Part IV. Evaluating the Academics
Chapter 36. Are Students Really Learning?
Chapter 37. What’s Wrong with US News & World Report’s College Rankings
Chapter 38. The Right Way to Use College Rankings
Chapter 39. College Rankings: An Alternative
Chapter 40. The Hallmarks of a Student-Centered University
Chapter 41. Staying in College Too Long
Chapter 42. Grading Academic Departments
Chapter 43. Kicking the Tires

Part V. Admission Nuts and Bolts
Chapter 44. What You Need to Know About High School Counselors
Chapter 45. What You Need to Know About Independent College Counselors
Chapter 46. Knowing What to Do When
Chapter 47. Writing Your Way Into College
Chapter 48. Visiting College Campuses
Chapter 49. Acing the College Interview
Chapter 50. Transferring to a Different College
Chapter 51. Getting Credit for Your Work

Part VI. Borrowing for College
Chapter 52. The Best Student Loans
Chapter 53. Private College Loan Perils