With the UC And Cal State schools experiencing their biggest financial crisis ever, the number of California high schools seniors applying to college outside California has jumped dramatically.

This week the San Jose Mercury News compiled a short list of year-to-year increases in college applications from Californians at some out-of-state schools. Here is what they found:

• Arizona State University   24%
• Colgate University         15%
• College of Wooster  62%
• Swarthmore College      16%
• University of Delaware  36%
• University of Pennsylvania 22%
• University of Virginia  24%
• University of Washington 22%
• Villanova University   34%

Frankly, I’ve long advocated that California students cast a wide net and look at colleges in other states.  I’d argue that California kids are hot everywhere, but on the West Coast.

My own son, who is a high school senior at High Tech High in San Diego, didn’t even apply to any UC or Cal State schools. Ben only applied to private liberal arts colleges outside of the state, but despite their high price tags he will be paying less than if he had gone to UC Berkeley, UCLA, or UCSD. All the colleges that he’s heard from have given him college scholarships and grants that will cut the price in about half. If Ben had headed to a UC school in the fall, we would have had to pay the full price.

Is this migration of smart teenagers a good thing for the state? Probably not, but I don’t see any realistic alternatives.

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution and she writes about college for CBSMoneyWatch. Follow her on Twitter.

Read More:

The Shrinking Odds of Geting Into UC Berkeley

Why State Flagship Universities are Rejecting More Students

Admission Jitters at Cal State University Campuses

College Grants: Decoding a Financial Aid Letter Part II

My son has been receiving financial aid awards from colleges during the last week or so and it’s the grant aid line items that I check out first. So far, I haven’t been disappointed.

Today I want to focus on how teenagers can maximize their college grants. For starters they may want to ignore the advice that high school counselors have been dispensing for decades: apply to safety schools and reach schools.

Applying to reach schools, however, will often jeopardize the college grant money that a student could receive. Here’s why:  Colleges have a finite amount of money to award to freshmen applicants so they typically reserve their best offers to the high school seniors that they covet the most.

Beware of Gapping….

Often  if your child isn’t in the top 25% to 33% of a college’s applicant pool, he or she is more likely to be gapped. When gapping occurs, the school accepts the student, but the financial aid award is so low that the applicant will usually attend a different school.

In some cases, the gap between what a family can afford and what the school offers can be tens of thousands of dollars. Often the students in this category are middle- and low-income students who are in the bottom half academically of the accepted students.

Knowing of this danger, my son didn’t apply to any reach schools. He applied to liberal arts colleges where he was in the upper range of applicants. Because he picked the schools carefully, we haven’t had any surprises. Ben has been accepted into all the schools that he’s heard from so far. Each college has given Ben about $20,000 in a combination of merit and need-based grant money. With this assistance, Ben will enjoy the luxury of picking the college that he really wants to attend.

If Ben had aimed for schools where he barely qualified, he might have received little or no grant money.

There are some occasions when applying to reach schools could be a good idea. Here’s a notable one:

A few dozen of the nation’s most elite schools will routinely meet the financial aid need of any of its applicants with grants rather than loans. Your child could be the last kid accepted into a school like Amherst or Yale, but he or she would still receive a great financial aid package.

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution and she also writes about college for CBSMoneyWatch. Follow her on Twitter.

Read more:

How to Decode a Financial Aid Letter

How To Decode a Financial Aid Letter

Today, I’m going to cover the types of college grants that parents typically find in a financial aid letter.

College Grants

Many families believe that the biggest source of college cash is private scholarships, which is absolutely untrue. You can find the biggest pile of scholarships at the schools themselves. And that’s why you want to pay close attention to whether a student financial aid award letter contains college grants.

Studying for College Scholarships

A Primer on College Scholarships

Can This Teenager Win a College Scholarship?

Colleges dispense their grants in two main ways.   Almost all colleges and universities, state and private, award merit scholarships without regard to financial need. You often don’t need to be an “A” student to receive a generous scholarship. In fact, at some schools everybody pockets something.

Often colleges will notify students that they won a merit scholarship in their letters of acceptance. The acceptance letter could arrive weeks before the financial aid package shows up.

When the financial aid letter arrives….

You want to see if the school is providing any additional grant money. The schools dispense this extra grant money based on need. How generous the school is with the second round of grants will not just depend on the family’s income. The grant awards will also depend on whether a college really wants a child.

A student who has barely gotten into a “reach” school will often get a package loaded with loans rather than grants. In contrast, a student, whose parents make the same income as the reach applicant, could receive a big need-based grant if he or she is someone who the admission office wants to entice to its campus.

Obviously, you want a financial aid package that’s stuffed mostly or exclusively with grants because these don’t have to be repaid.

Financial aid award mistake….

Sometimes parents mistakenly believe that a financial aid award is more generous than it really is because plenty of schools don’t do a good job of differentiating the grants from the loans.

If you aren’t sure what your financial aid award contains, call the school’s financial aid office. Ask how much grant money is in the package versus loans. Only then will you begin to understand whether the school is affordable.

If the package doesn’t contain enough grants, you can always appeal.

How to Negotiate for a Better Financial Aid Package

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution and she also writes a college blog for CBSMoneyWatch. Follow her on Twitter.

Some parents are still struggling to complete their financial aid application, while others are just beginning to receive their financial aid packages in the mail.

Once you receive a financial aid award, the challenge is to decipher it. I’m going to help you master these financial aid letters by looking at the scholarships, grants and loans you’ll typically find inside one.

Today, I’m going to focus on the federal financial aid that you will typically find in a college financial aid packages. In my next post, I’ll cover other awards that the financial aid packages often include.

Federal Financial Aid Awards

Private and state colleges and universities build their financial aid packages by starting with federal aid. Parents hope they will receive federal financial aid, but for many families, the only federal aid they will receive is loans.

Here are the main sources of federal aid that you’ll find in a financial aid award letter:

Pell Grant. The biggest source of free federal cash is the Pell Grant. If your family makes less than $50,000 a year, it’s likely you will find a Pell Grant in your aid package. The maximum Pell Grant for the 2010-2011 school year will be $5,500.

Federal Work Study. Students who have federal work-study money in their financial aid package are eligible for a campus job. Work-study students earn at least the current federal minimum wage. The federal government pays 75% of the wages and the school the rest. Work-study jobs aren’t always a sure thing for every eligible student because there is a finite amount of money to support this program, which has become more popular during these hard economic times.

Perkins Loan. This is a great federal loan to find in a financial aid package. The interest rate on a Perkin’s loan is currently 5% and recipients can borrow up to $5,500 a year. Interest on this loan doesn’t begin accruing for the student until after college graduation. The school determines who qualifies for this loan and acts as the lender.

Stafford Loans. Schools will include Stafford Loans in financial aid packages and any students are eligible to borrow through the federal Stafford Loan program. Students are responsible for repaying these loans since they are in their names, but parents can repay the loans themselves.

There two kinds of Stafford Loans:

• UnSubsidized Staffords. Current interest rate — 6.8%
• Subsidized Staffords. Current interest rate 5.6% Beginning in July it will drop to 4.5%.

The subsidized Stafford is the best of the pair because the interest rate is lower and, unlike the other Stafford, the interest on the subsidized loan doesn’t begin accruing until after the child graduated.

PLUS Loan. This is the federal parent loan. The interest rate is a fixed 8.5%. If you own a home, using a home equity line of credit will probably be a cheaper way to go.

…If your loan package didn’t include any federal financial aid, you probably didn’t complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA. I’d complete it  today!

Read More:

How Much College Loan Debt is Too Much?

PLUS Loans: How Much Should Parents Borrow?

7 Myths About Financial Aid

How To Avoid to Avoid 9 FAFSA Form Mistakes

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution, an Amazon bestseller, and she also blogs for CBSMoneyWatch. Follow her on Twitter.

If you looked at the grades they are “earning,” you might assume the answer is yes.  The average GPA in college is 3.1. At private schools, the norm is a 3.3 GPA. In contrast, the typical college student had an average GPA of 2.52 in the 1950s.

In nearly every decade, the GPA has inched up. Clearly grade inflation is at play, suggests Stuart Rojstaczer, a retired Duke University professor, who is the guru of grade inflation research. You can see tons of his grade inflation evidence at his website – GradeInflation.com.

Among different institutions, students who attend public commuter schools and engineering schools get graded most harshly.

Here are 3 reasons for college grade inflation:

1. Professors don’t want to jeopardize students’ chances for graduate school and jobs after those fun college years are over.

2. Professors can be cowed by the teacher evaluation forms that students complete. No teacher wants a terrible rating on RateMyProfessors.com.

3. At expensive private schools, students and their parents expect high grades to match these institutions’ high price tags.

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution, an Amazon bestseller, and she writes a college blog for CBSMoneyWatch. Follow her on Twitter.

In the Public Agenda survey, which was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the majority of young Americans, ages 22 to 30, gave their school counselor poor or fair grades.  For instance, 67% of those surveyed said their counselors did a fair or poor job of helping them decide what school was right for them.

You might assume that I was just the messenger of this bleak assessment of high school counseling, but I felt compelled to add my own two cents. This is a subject I feel very strongly about.

High school counselors do have huge loads, but I think the problem goes far beyond that.  What I find truly bizarre is that high school counselors aren’t even trained to provide college advice!!

You can read more about my take on this national scandal, as well as the comments that I received from school counselors, here.

Read more:

Why High School Counselors Don’t Know Much About College

10 Things About College That High School Counselors Don’t Know

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution, an Amazon bestseller. Follow her of  Twitter.

I bet you that most parents think they won’t qualify for financial aid although most will. Here’s a shocker: even families that make $150,000 or even $200,000 may qualify for close to $25,000 in financial aid at very expensive schools.

In the college admission process, financial aid misconceptions can easily punish families. If you have a working knowledge of financial aid requirements, however, you’ll have a better chance of capturing some of this college money.

So what are families’ biggest financial aid misconceptions? I examine them in my newest article over at CBSMoneyWatch that’s entitled -  7 Myths About  Financial Aid.

Check out the story and who knows, you might ultimately save your family tens of thousands of dollars.

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution, an Amazon bestseller. Follow her on Twitter.

Which is Better: A Liberal Arts College or a University?

At the time, I promised that I’d summarize a thoughtful op-ed piece that Sanford J. Ungar, the president of Goucher College, wrote for the special liberal arts report that ran in The Chronicle of Higher Education.  Unfortunately, only Chronicle subscribers can access the entire article.

I’m positive that more students would be clamoring to get into liberal arts colleges if students really understood what a liberal arts college is. Here are some of the misperceptions about liberal arts colleges that Ungar included in his essay:

A liberal arts degree is a luxury and “career education” is the only way to go.

No one could be against equipping oneself for a career. But the “career education” bandwagon seems to suggest that shortcuts are available to students that lead directly to high-paying jobs—leaving out “frills” like learning how to write and speak well, how to understand the nuances of literary texts and scientific concepts, how to collaborate with others on research.

Imparting these “frills” to students is what liberal arts colleges are all about.

It’s harder to find a job if you graduate with a liberal arts degree in an irrelevant major like French or philosophy.

Actually, that’s not true. A survey by the Association of American Colleges and Universities released a study in 2009 that found that 89% of surveyed employees said they want college students to pursue a liberal arts education.

It’s liberal Democrats that got us into our current political mess so it’s ridiculous to continue to indoctrinate college students with a liberal education.

Folks, liberal arts have nothing to do with politics.

“The liberal arts promotes the idea of listening to all points of view and not relying on a single ideology, and examining all approaches to solving a problem rather than assuming one technique or perspective has all the answers ….It may be only liberal education that can help lead the way to comity and respectful conversation about issues before us.”

One should not only study the arts. STEM majors  – science, technology, engineering and math – are what’s hot.

Liberal arts colleges aren’t just about the “arts.” A liberal arts education also includes the sciences and math.  There is no evidence, Ungar observes, to suggest that success in the sciences and technology will be greater if it comes at the expensive of a broad background in other liberal arts subjects.

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution and she also writes a college blog for CBSMoneyWatch. Follow me on Twitter.

Further Reading:

Five Reasons To Attend a Liberal Arts College

The Beauty of Liberal Arts Colleges

Why College Graduation Rates Are a Disgrace

Last night I had a conversation with one of my nephews, who is torn between attending Truman State University, a wonderful public liberal arts college, or the University of Missouri in Columbia, which happens to be my alma mater.

I’m proud of Tommy for being so thoughtful in trying to choose the right school. Unlike most teenagers, Tommy is not strictly framing his choice as a decision between a “big” school and a “little” school. When students view their choices in this way, most kids opt for the big school that’s got  Division I sports, the greater campus buzz and more facilities.

What Tommy understands is that the key difference between a university and liberal arts colleges boils down to their mission. Liberal arts colleges focus on teaching undergrads and doing so in a more intimate learning environment that encourages meaningful student-teacher bonds.  In contrast, the main purpose of a university is to support faculty research and graduate education, while undergrads, who are relatively cheap to educate in lecture halls, foot much of the bill.

Anyone who reads my blog much will know that I am an enthusiastic fan of liberal arts colleges.  My daughter attends a liberal arts school – Juniata College in Pennsylvania — and my son, who is a high school senior will be attending a liberal arts college in the fall. He just doesn’t know which one yet.

I do appreciate, however, that a liberal arts education isn’t for everyone. In fact, Tommy’s decision is harder because he is thinking about majoring in journalism. The University of Missouri enjoys a national reputation for its journalism school, which I happened to attend many moons ago. Attending Mizzou’s J School is the only reason that would make me pause when enthusiastically recommending Truman. That said, I gave Tommy a series of questions to pose to J School folks about how the school is preparing students for 21st-century journalism.

Coincidentally, The Chronicle of Higher Education rolled out a special report on liberal arts education in today’s issue. (Unfortunately, you will need a pass to read them.) It’s a timely topic since many people dismiss liberal arts degrees as irrelevant today. A large number of students and parents believe that career-oriented degrees, such as business and engineering, is the only ticket to a job in this wretched economy.

In the special report, the president of Goucher College wrote a piece that focused on the seven biggest misconceptions of a liberal arts college. I’m going to summarize those myths in my next post.

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution and she also writes a college blog for CBSMoneyWatch.

More Reading:

The Beauty of Liberal Arts Colleges

Finding a Great College in Your Region

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently surveyed dozens of colleges and universities across the country to compile this top 10 college reading list. You won’t find any heavy literature on this list that includes three books dripping with zombie and vampire antics.

I’d recommend reading No. 2 and No. 6. I’m on the fence about No. 10. As for Dan Brown’s latest book, does anybody really think this guy is a talented writer? Lots of women I know loved The Lovely Bones, but as a mother, I found it painful reading about the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl.

Here is what college students are reading:

1. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

2. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

3. Nightlight: A Parody by the staff of The Harvard Lampoon

4. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

5. Are-You-There-Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea by Chelsea Handler

6. Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan

7. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

8. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

9. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

10. Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution and she also writes a college blog for CBSMoneyWatch.