Reading Does Not Make You a Nerd

It’s summer.  Hot (read: reason to stay inside).  No school (read: students have LOTS of free time, for which their parents’ intentions and their own intentions may differ).   So, its the season for numerous media articles lamenting “summer slide” or students “forgetting” the academic information from the previous school year to features of popular…

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What’s Unemployment Got to Do With Picking Colleges for Application?

Forecasting job prospects based on location of the college is another criteria for prospective applicants and their parents to consider, before deciding to apply.  If unemployment in general is high in a particular state, does a student and family want to invest their limited capital and 4-5 years of effort in a college, when they…

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Will the $10 Billion Deficit in Pension Obligations Affect the Quality of UC Education?

The perfect storm:  increasing numbers of qualified high school graduates for UC admissions, baby boomers maturing to retirement, who were promised generous pensions–which UC administrators did not fund for 20 years starting in the early 1990’s–and current reductions in state funding for higher education–all put pressure to increase tuition–while at the same time real wages…

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Summer and the College Essay

Every summer, several parents of soon-to-be seniors contact Creative Marbles to ask about finishing college application essays before the next school year starts.  In parents’ minds, the thinking goes, “Summer’s a totally unstructured time.  Less distractions with school work and after-school activities.   The college essay is essential to a competitive application, and I want my…

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Are College Going Attitudes Changing?

Are students’ and their families’ attitudes changing about college?  375 colleges, an increase of 96 institutions from 2011, report still having space available for freshmen and/or transfer students for Fall 2012.     Has the economic uncertainty caught up with families’ choices?  Is the $1 Trillion total student debt and consequences for individual borrowers causing families to…

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