Outreach

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For us, saying "We Make College Affordable" is more than just a tagline - its a promise we keep each and every day. For more than a decade we've invested tens of thousands of dollars to support community outreach programs that help educate students and parents. Realizing that knowledge truly is power, we founded AidLink - an innovative non profit organization that works to educate families about the college process - from standardized testing tips to admissions and financial aid help, AidLink's programs have empowered countless students to pursue an educational path that is right for them.

Admissions News

"Slow down and wait" - Waiting for the "fat envelope"

How do you advise your child to slow down, wait and not feel the pressure, when you are running around, simultaneously juggling obligations and trying to stop and take some deep breaths yourself?

As the parent, I try to be the voice of reason, to set an example, to keep balance in my life and for my family. But at times, I get caught up, too.

6 College Admissions Tips for Artistic Students

If your child wants to major in musical theater or some other performing art, go ahead and blame it on Glee, American Idol or America's Got Talent.

Television shows make performing look fun, but the process of applying to colleges as a prospective visual or performing arts major is anything but. For these students, the admission process can be even more nerve wracking and time consuming because of requirements for auditions or portfolios.

To learn more about what's involved in being a prospective visual or performing art major, I talked with Halley Shefler, former dean of admissions at both the Boston Conservatory and the School of Music at Boston University. She is now a college consultant at The Arts Edge, which works with students who want to major in music, theatre, arts, and dance.

Here are six of Shefler's suggestions on how artistic students—and their parents—can navigate the admission process:

As College Wait Lists Grow, So Does The Anxiety: An unusually large number of high school seniors this year are still waiting to find out where they're going to college this fall, because colleges have put more of them on wait lists.
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Financial Aid News

Assigning blame for high student loan debts

My Your Money column this weekend is the story Cortney Munna, a 26-year-old graduate of New York University who somehow ended up with nearly $100,000 in student loan debt.

Getting at the “how” in “somehow” is tricky. She and her mom signed the loans, but I don’t think they deserve all of the blame. Citibank started lending Ms. Munna money while she was still a teenager, without any sense of her income prospects. And financial aid officers at N.Y.U. had a view of the big picture and the growing debt, or at least they should have. Shouldn’t someone there have talked beforehand to Ms. Munna and her mother about the implications of borrowing so much?

The Millionaire Cop Next Door: When considering employment after college, you may want to check out the public sector. According to this article from Forbes, public sector employees make, on average, DOUBLE that of their private sector contemporaries (when you factor in benefits). Maybe its time to start studying for that civil service test...
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Education Department Delays Rules on Private Colleges

The Education Department said Tuesday that it had split off and delayed a decision on the most controversial part of proposed new student-aid regulations — the treatment of for-profit college programs whose graduates do not earn enough to repay their loans.

While a package of proposed new student-aid regulations was released Tuesday, a department official said no decision had been reached about what debt-to-income ratio would make for-profit programs ineligible for federal aid.