While families know they’ll pay for college textbooks, the actual expense may be seen as, “OMG, ONE more thing I have to pay for?!?” When families may already feel limited in savings and income to pay for rising college tuition, planning ahead can help reduce stress. Knowing the average annual textbook expense at potential colleges,…
Tag: Private colleges
Guest Post: Cultural Musings
Many high school and college students intend to study abroad, with only vague notions of foreign escapades and intrigue, as a sort of extended tourist vacation. Haven, a current New York University Sophomore and former Creative Marbles Consultancy client, agreed to share a more detailed picture for students wishing to live and study internationally, while…
Wanted: College Students for Fall 2013 Enrollment APPLY NOW
“Too late” doesn’t apply to college admissions. And, no, I’m not talking about enrollment only at a community college. Every year, after May 1st, colleges begin sorting who’s coming and who’s not coming to campus next fall. Typically, several hundred campuses around the country are still open for admissions, given the lack of enrollment. For…
May 1st: Not Just May Day for Seniors
For graduating Seniors across the world, May 1 is the deadline decision day to enroll in a U.S. college for Fall 2013. Today is the culmination of the college admissions process, of which the year long college application process from Fall 2012 to now was the latest step for Seniors and their families. Although, the college…
More Details About Federally Funded Student Loans
As interest rates for subsidized Stafford loans (i.e. interest is withheld throughout college) is poised to increase from 3.4% to 6.8% as of July 1, 2013, Congress is considering to postpone the increase, as happened in 2012. (BTW, unsubsidized Stafford loans, where interest begins accruing from the date promissory note is signed, is already 6.8%.)
College Degree: Gateway to Middle Class Prosperity or Financial Burden?
While many students and their families pursue a 4 year college degree for the imagined financial security and solid middle class living, the cost(s), both to pay for the degree and the long term effects of earning the degree, may be greater than the return. Generations have been raised to expect that their standard of…
Reviewing The Week In Education: March 31-April 6
Highlights in Educational and College Admissions Happenings for March 31-April 6: In College Admissions: The last of the college admissions acceptances and denials were returned to anxiously awaiting Seniors and their parents. Creative Marbles Consultancy’s Commentary: For students denied admissions, speculation about why s/he was denied has ranged from “only the Asian kids in my…
Life in College: A Glimpse of Smaller Class Sizes in Action
Many universities publicize the small class sizes as a benefit for student’s learning. Wanting to understand more about what small class sizes looked in practice , I talked with a Creative Marbles Consultancy client and a current freshman at the University of San Diego (USD), Jarett. He graciously agreed to let me summarize his experience…
Denied?!? WHAT THE WHAT?!!!?
The email inbox for a college applicant at this time of March can be an emotional minefield. Each “ding” alerting the Senior to a newly received message can create a heart-pounding, nervous-butterflies-in-the-stomach-hand-quivering-as-you-click-the-mouse-on-the-bolded-new-message-from-such-and-such-college, frantically searching the opening text for, “Congratulations!” and instead seeing, “With a record number of applications, we regret we were unable to admit you…
Not Every Student Loan Balance Is In the Six Figures or Overdue
Contrary what the media often reports, not all student loan balances are unmanageable amounts. Further, since not EVERY student loan borrower is delinquent on payment, adds credence that not all student loan balances are unwieldy. Graphs from The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, February 28, 2013
Not Every College Awards Advanced Placement Credits
One benefit of Advanced Placement (AP) classes and exams has been the ability to earn college credits, while still in high school, for an exam score of 3-5 on a 5 point scale. However, before assuming EVERY college will provide the college credits and the college credits for the SUBJECT in which the test was…
The Pins & Needles Way of Living Successfully
A life lived without failure is not success, it’s mediocrity. – Liz Lenz After reading a Facebook post with this quote, I started thinking about my fears of failure and how much effort I’ve spent trying to avoid failure like the plague, in some cases, not trying some new endeavor to spare myself even perceived…
More About Waiting for College Admissions Decisions: Is The Glass Half Empty or Half Full?
Perception can change everything. I was complaining recently about something not going my way, and a friend reminded me about the neighborhoods in Syria being bombed daily, a roof over my head from the recent winter rain storm, you get the picture. My friend got me thinking–how do we maintain a realistic view without falling…
“How Do I Select Colleges for Application If I Don’t Know My Major?”
One of the first questions that arise when high school juniors start thinking about selecting colleges for application is, “What’s my academic major?” However, choosing a major can seem risky, like locking oneself into an academic concentration with no chance to change, as well as declaring career for the rest of one’s life–all at age…
The Skinny on Increasing College Tuition
Wondering why college seems more costly than in the past? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, college tuition has increased 559% since 1985. Over the same time, disposable income has increased only incrementally, which can create the perception of greater costs for each family.