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A Guide To Living For Empty Nesters

By the time we reach a little beyond middle age in our lives, chances are all of our kids have grown up and gotten out of the house, and this means that the feeling of having an empty nest may settle in and make you emotional. It is incredibly emotional to watch your children who […]
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Negotiating the difficult discussion on which college to choose

April is such a key month for collegebound families, in no small part because final family decisions on a college are on deadline. By now, your student has acceptance letters in hand. But maybe this spring brought your student a towering stack of acceptance letters to consider. In such a case, how do you discuss collegiate opportunity with your student? And how do you, along with your college student, weight the reality of college finances in choosing a school?
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Cracking the Coded Language of Financial Aid

  decoder disc, image by flickr user LEOL30, cc license Yesterday, we covered the difficult coversations parents and students have when they negotiate which school to choose. For many families, cost is a major consideration. In fact, according to this U.S. News survey of college freshman:For 48.7% of freshman, financial assistance was very important in their final college choice. For 45.9% of freshman, the cost of attending their choice was very important in their final college choice. To understand the difference in costs, families need to compare their financial aid awards. The problem is, however, that these award letters can be confusing.
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Vox: What is a student loan?

  image by flickr user Sal Falko, cc license As school decisions are made, students and parents have to figure out how to pay. For most families (70%!), that means student loans. However, it's likely that students and parents have lots more to learn about the basics of student loans. To that end, enter Vox. 

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The Case for The Public University – Honors College

For college bound families evaluating schools it is useful to consider the case for the public university Honors College that is asserted by The New York Times – Frank Bruni. Bruni is well known for his best selling book – Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania, 2015 […]
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CFPB calls for sunshine on campus debit cards

Expanding transparency around colleges is always a concern. Families and students, who are often viewed as "consumers" of higher education, are rightfully due the disclosure of a bevy of relevant information about institutions they compensate in exchange for education. In addition to the many existing laws governing required disclosures by colleges, there's been, in recent years, a push for transparency in possible costs (the net price calculator), a push for transparency in campus safety (Clery Act and campus safety statistics), and a push for transparency in defaults of loans (cohort default rates). Such transparency is required of private and public schools, under the assumption that certain types of transparency are universally needed for students and families. On Tuesday, there was a call for greater collegiate transparency in a new realm: campus debit cards.
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A Tribute to Moms

Our recent online surveys of current and future college parents confirm what we suspected: the majority of our members and supporters at College Parents of America are women, especially among those of you who are actively engaged in our group.As you might have guessed from my name, I am not.But I am lucky to have a marvelous Mom, and a wonderful wife who is a great Mom to our two sons, so I thought it appropriate to write a Mother’s Tribute, to all of you out there who are struggling to do your best to support your children on the path to and through college.
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Celebrate MLK, Jr. Day with a Day of Service

   image on cc license from flickr user "life is good (pete)" Martin Luther King, Jr once stated, "the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." Certainly, on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service 2014, all individuals and students who have a day off of normal activity could enhance their character with service to their fellow man.