I still remember being a restless high school senior waiting to cut my ties and finally make it to college. My sister had chosen a community college for her freshman-sophomore experience just three years before me, and since I followed in her footsteps in most areas I naturally considered taking the same route.

So on a hot day in mid-May back in 2004, my mom and I made the journey just one hour south of Wichita, Kansas, to check out the college that would soon be my new home. While my stay there was short – just two years until I could snag my associates degree – it was memorable. And the following two years spent at Wichita State University securing my bachelor’s degree were even more enjoyable than the first.

When I was looking for schools, my top priorities were proximity, price and degree offerings, among other minor considerations. Out-of-state universities weren’t an option for me as tuition would’ve been outrageous. And along the consideration of price, I also wanted a school that could offer me a scholarship.

Earlier this month, Forbes announced its list of top 650 colleges in America. Among its highest-ranking universities were Princeton, Williams College and Stanford, with Johnson & Wales and Texas Southern University snagging the last spots in 649th and 650th place.

While some have criticized the methods Forbes and other news sources, including US News and Newsweek, use to determine their respective rankings, there’s really no one, tried and true way to determine which colleges are superior. Because the truth is, everyone has their own opinion about what makes one college better than another. Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. News recently released their lists of the top colleges in the USA. One of the lists that they released focused solely on Liberal Arts Colleges.

So how did U.S. News determine what makes an excellent liberal arts school? The scores are based partially on the quality of the education that students receive at the institutions and the financial burden families must take on in order to offer this education to their students. All schools that are regionally accredited and for-profit institutions are considered for this honor if they have respond to the statistical survey that U.S. News sends out each year. The students’ level of satisfaction is also taken into consideration, since U.S. News know that no raw set of data can truly evaluate a school’s value.

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Planning on attending a liberal arts college? Then plan on shelling out some hard cash. With that said, liberal colleges have proven to be a great educational investment. PayScale, a salary data site, released its recent report on this year’s top liberal arts colleges by salary potential. Here are some of PayScale’s most beneficial liberal arts colleges ranked by the average starting graduate’s salary:

1. Harvey Mudd College: The average salary is $68,900. The yearly tuition is, as of the 2009-2010 school year, $38,467.

2. Claremont McKenna College: The average salary is $58,700. The yearly tuition is, as of the 2009-2010 school year, $38,510.

3. Bucknell University: The average salary is $55,800. The yearly tuition is, as of the 2009-2010 school year, $40,816.

4. Lafayette College: The average salary is $54,800. The yearly tuition is, as of the 2009-2010 school year, $37,815. Read the rest of this entry »

Sure, he can’t drive because he does not have his driver’s license yet, but Justin Bieber is a cutie pie!

What girl does smile a little – even if it’s only on the inside – when she hears Bieber croon that he wants to tell her he loves her? His music sickeningly sweet, but man, it’s one of my biggest guilty pleasures.

Sure, most 15-year-old boys are not really going to say things like Bieber sings. Neither are they really thinking about pursuing a college education, but once again, Bieber is an exception.

Instead of playing video games while he is on tour, Bieber studies, according to People.com.

“I want to go to college,” Bieber said. “As Asher Roth says, I think college would be a blast.”

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I recently posted a blog about the Top 10 Best Value Colleges in the U.S. It made sense to me why these were good schools. They have reasonable tuitions, are respectable schools, and the average student debt is lower at these schools than the national average student debt upon graduation. But according to an article in CBS’ Moneywatch, maybe I should rethink my opinion of these schools.

Evidently the people at the Princeton Review who ranked the top public and private  best value schools forgot to take something very important into account: Scholarships.

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