CollegeBasics.com Blog

How FAFSA Works for Divorced Parents

If parents of children applying for financial aid for college are divorced, the FAFSA form is filled out by only one parent. Which parent fills out the report is based on two factors: which parent has given the most support or which patent has had the child living with him/her the most during the last [...]

The Real Costs of College

The Econmist recently quoted Kevin Carey: "...if the lifetime wage premium for a college grad is a million dollars over 40 years, then how much is four years of college worth today? Answer: about $300,000 or so. That's $75,000 per year..." Yikes

The Common Application will be Updated

Get ready! Common App 4.0 is on its way. Students applying to college will be able to use a new, streamlined Common Application format by the summer of 2013. Changes will include No more truncation of inserted text Opportunity to ask

Best Advice from Guidance Counselors for College Applications

Guidance counselors have all kinds of advice, but here are some areas you should be picking their brains for. Ask your guidance counselor what colleges she recommends for you. She knows local colleges and universities, she knows you, and she

National Colleges Your HS Guidance Counselors Recommend

Last year high school guidance counselors from across the country were asked what schools they like to recommend to their students for the best undergraduate education. These are some of their rankings. (5 is the best ranking.) There were no

Financial Aid for International Students

Most financial aid for attending a U. S. college is restricted to American citizens and green-card holders, and most financial aid packages are based on federal taxes paid in the U. S. However, there is financial aid available to international stud

Free Courses at MIT

In the spring of 2012 MIT will be launching MITx, a new online learning initiative. MITx will be offered on an interactive platform that will allow for student-to-student communication and for online labs. Now anyone can now take course work from

Colleges are Meeting New Career Demands

Colleges are beginning to offer both courses and degree programs in the fastest-growing career opportunities for the future. Maybe you should e thinking about these kinds of college degrees. Infomatics – IT meets medicine where there is a grow

Pell Grant News

A recent Congressional agreement will maintain the Pell Grant maximum at $5,500. This is good news, but there are some down side for the Pell. Now the Pell Grant will only be available for six years, not nine a high school or GED will be r

How Do You Stand on Early Action/Decision?

Harvard and Princeton have just reintroduced their Early Action (EA) programs for the class of 2016. As a result their EA applications have soared. Harvard's EA applications, for example, are up 5.9% from 2006 when they last had EA. Other scho