College in America Blog

Dual enrollment, aka “early college” or “concurrent enrollment” has suddenly become a “thing.”   This year, 2025, has long been predicted to be the time when higher education reaches the much ballyhooed and dreaded “demographic cliff,” where the number of high school graduates begins a slow, but prolonged, decline.  Higher education is bracing for that […]

Let’s take “dual enrollment” apart and see how it works.  Selectivity  It is common for community colleges to have an open enrollment policy. This is an invitation to academically mediocre students. attracting 1st Gen, minorities, students from low-income families. Dual enrollment is only going to work if the students are “college material.” If you are […]

There are various sources of financial aid available to students planning on attending community college. Most states have some form of a community college free tuition program for their residents. Eighty percent of community college students work. Some companies offer tuition assistance to their employees to attend community college. Typically, employees are reimbursed for their […]

This question was inspired by the GOP’s proposed legislation, the Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Plan, working its way through Congress. This legislation caps student loans for undergraduate students at $50,000. The short answer that a cap of $50,000 is way too high and our members of Congress are not very bright.  The current interest […]

        These days, most students require more than four years to earn a bachelor’s degree. Here are twelve reasons undergraduate students don’t “finish in four.” Changing majors: Research indicates that 80% of students change their major at least once during college. Changing majors typically means losing non-transferable credits and adding extra time […]

There are a variety of reasons: Thinking that everyone should go to college. College is a competition. Supply far exceeds Demand, there are just so many “college” jobs available each year. The school selection protocol is flawed, ignoring “affordability.” Thinking if everybody is doing it (taking out student loans), it must be OK. Borrowers just […]

Making a success of college these days, graduating and scoring a well-paying, professional job, is difficult. Only three out of every ten students who matriculate cross the finish line. To make matters worse some of those college grads who needed student loans have messed up their finances so badly, they are going to have difficulty […]

Prepaid tuition plans are a type of 529 plan that allows you to set aside money now for your child’s college tuition in the future. Prepaid plans allow parents to prepay tuition at current tuition costs, which will save them money in the long run. However, these plans are somewhat more restrictive than 529 college savings plans, […]

A 529 plan is a tax-advantaged investment account for education savings, offering tax-free growth and withdrawals when used for qualified education expenses. If a college education for your offspring is on your radar, the best practice is to open a 529 when your baby is born. However, as the bard said, “Tis many a slip […]

When college was relatively cheap and few students matriculated, it was common for parents to send their offspring to the halls of higher learning to “find themselves” or to “learn how to learn.” Heck, I knew of a family who sent their daughter to college to snag a husband. Back in the day, when JFK […]