More students than ever are sending in early applications to top colleges, according to reports. And those students aren’t the prep school seniors hoping to avoid the springtime rush – it’s a diverse group that includes minorities and foreign students looking to study in the U.S.

Some early examples:

• Duke University – 400 early applications (versus 100 back in 2005)
• Haverford College, PA – early applications from abroad doubled from last year
• University of Chicago – double-digit percentage increase from black and Hispanic students.

In addition, the number of international students applying early has jumped by 25% over the last four years. The number from China has leapt from 10,000 to 57,000.

This influx of diverse early applicants has made for some stiff competition, and private school families are seeing more deferrals – and even rejections – than they might have expected.

Also increasing the competition: some schools – including Princeton, University of Virginia and Harvard – are returning to the early admissions process after years without. During those years, many top colleges increased their number of early acceptances, thinking some of those accepted would turn down the offer if they got in later to one of those three schools.

With the return of Princeton, UV and Harvard, schools like Yale and Georgetown have cut early acceptances by 10%.

At Princeton alone, the early acceptance numbers are shifting. Of the 726 students accepted last month:

• 56% attend public high schools (up from 50% five years ago), and
• 37% are minorities (up from 31%).

How does your school handle early admissions? Tell us in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

The University of Rochester, New York has launched a three-dimensional campus model to give a leg up to its admissions department. The model, called RocRes, is designed to provide an insider’s view of what it’s like to live on the school’s River campus.

Included in the 3D model:

• Dormitory room tours
• 360-degree panoramic views, and
• Interactive campus views.

When students click on a particular building they’d like to investigate, they’re provided with information and images of the structure. This virtual campus is especially useful for international students who wouldn’t otherwise be able to visit during the application process.

Is this the future of campus tours – or just a novelty? Share your opinions in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

John Stickle, a sophomore at Front Range Community College in Colorado, was struggling to pay for his education. Financial aid wasn’t helping and he couldn’t get a bank loan.

So he did the only rational thing: started a business developing web apps.

But to get this venture off the ground – and pay for a computer to actually create the apps – he needed capital. So he sold his coin collection, his desk and his furniture to buy a Mac and an iPad.

Then, of course, he had to teach himself how to develop iPhone and iPad apps, with some help from a lot of library books.

The first fruit of this endeavor has just debuted. The app, called Girlfriend 411, sends users a notification of when their significant other’s birthday, anniversary and other important dates are coming up.

Stickle will make 70% profit off of every $.99 app sold – all of which he intends to pool back into his education.

How else can students make ends meet? Tell us in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

Harvard University is the latest among Ivy League schools to report a drop in applications for the 2012-13 academic year.

Harvard fielded 34,285 applications from hopeful candidates for the academic year, down 1.9% from a year earlier.

The school joins Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania in reporting a decline. Columbia saw an 8.9% drop, while Penn said applications were down by 1.7%.

Why the decrease? In Harvard’s case, it could have something to do with the university’s decision to bring back its early application program this year. There has also been a drop in the number of high school seniors, according to BusinessWeek.

Do you think the number of applications to Ivy League schools will continue to drop? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

As the home of shows like Teen Mom and Jersey Shore, MTV’s not generally known for its ability to help young minds. But it’s never too late to start – and to prove it, the network has developed a Facebook app that helps students track down scholarship and other financial aid.

Working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the College Board and the Get Schooled campaign, the “My College Dollars” app uses information from the student user’s Facebook page to fill in a form, then suggests aid the student is eligible to apply for.

Among its other functions, it helps students:

• Access and fill out the FAFSA
• Post questions for experts, and
• Keep a calendar of important dates and send alerts to the student’s Facebook page.

The app operates entirely on Facebook, setting it aside from other college finance websites like finaid.org and fastweb.com.

Check out MTV’s app here, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

College admissions departments looking to learn more about prospective students may have a secret weapon: the admissions essay.

While plenty of schools are sticking with traditional “Why this school?” essays, some are learning more about applicants by offering more quirky, unusual prompts, such as:

• “Imagine you have to wear a costume for a year of your life. What would you pick and why?” – Brandeis University
• “What is your favorite ride at the amusement park? How does this reflect your approach to life?” – Emory University
• “What does Play-Doh have to do with Plato?” – University of Chicago
• And rather ominously, “Why did you do it?” – Wake Forest University

Other schools are sticking with more standard questions, but with a twist – a word length that shows how concise a student’s response can be:

• “You have 150 words. Take a risk.” – University of Notre Dame
• “If I could do something with no risk of failing, I would … (25 words or fewer)” – Brown University
• “Gadget that needs inventing (in 20 words)” – University of North Carolina

How does your school get to know prospective students? Let us know in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

A new financial aid program at the University of California Berkeley gives help to families whose gross annual income is $80,000 to $140,000. According to the school, the contribution those families make toward the annual cost would be capped at 15%.

This plan is a response to the state’s high cost of living and the resulting challenges middle-class families face as a result. The school’s state funding has been reduced by almost $1 billion since 2007-08.

The current cost to go to UC Berkeley: $32,634 for students living on-campus. Non-residents pay an additional $22,878.

The Middle Class Access Plan will begin in the 2012-13 school year, and apply to domestic undergraduate students, including incoming freshmen. State money won’t be used – the funding is expected to come from donations and an increasing number of students paying non-resident tuition.

How has your school handled financial aid cutbacks? Let us know in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

A new study by Varsity Outreach reveals that 79% of schools use Facebook in their admissions process – up 13% from last year’s polling. The results are based on responses from 150 surveyed schools.

The social network has become the most important social media option for admissions offices. Specifically, 89% call it “very/somewhat important” to their recruiting, compared to the runners-up, YouTube (70%), blogging (50%) or Twitter (43%).

However, there are still a few hold-outs resisting serious Facebook use. The top reasons:

• Not enough resources to support an admissions-specific presence, and
• The institution already had an adequate university-wide presence.

While 74% of respondents said they use a combination of Facebook applications. The most popular apps:

• Pages (81%)
• Groups (71%), and
• Personal Profiles (45%).

How are schools getting the word out about their Facebook pages? Overwhelmingly, the answer is Email Blasts, which rated a “very/somewhat effective” score of 97%.

Check out the full white paper here, then discuss it in our comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

Colleges and universities awarded $5.3 billion in grants to families beyond what they qualified for under the government’s definition of financial need, according to figures from the College Board.

On top of that, an additional $4 billion in federal tuition tax credits went to families making $100,000 to $180,000 (at least double the median household income in the U.S.).

This accounts for more than 20% of all U.S. financial aid. How do schools use the money?

Partly, it helps compete for applicants with high GPAs and SAT scores. But offering discounts to encourage spending – a strategy department stores use to increase traffic – is also a way of luring high-income families that can pay for the rest of the tuition. The goal: to increase their rankings in U.S. News & World Report.

Elite schools including Harvard and Yale give aid to families with household incomes as high as $200,000, which puts pressure on less selective schools to do the same in order to stay competitive.

Meanwhile, the lower- and middle-income students those subsidies are supposed to help fall deeper into debt to pay for school – an average $25,250 in debt, according to the Project on Student Debt.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

With an average $31,048 in debt, New Hampshire college students graduate with more loans to pay off than anywhere else in the country, according to a new report from the Project on Student Loan Debt.

In fact, based on data from 1,000 public and private four-year colleges, “Student Debt and the Class of 2010” found that the states with the highest average debt are all located in the northeast and Midwest.

On the other side of the equation, Utah and Hawaii had the lowest average debt with $15,509 and $15,550, respectively.

Two-thirds of college seniors graduated with an average of $25,250 in debt in 2010, and the unemployment rate for graduates rose from 8.7% to 9.1%, the highest annual rate on record.

The top 10 highest debt states:

1. New Hampshire – $31,048
2. Maine – $29,983
3. Iowa – $29,598
4. Minnesota – $29,058
5. Pennsylvania – $28,599
6. Vermont – $28,391
7. Ohio – $27,713
8. Indiana – $27,001
9. Rhode Island – $26,340
10. New York – $26,271

You can read the full report here and view an interactive map here.

Let us know what you think in the comments, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

As a result of high dropout and loan default rates and accusations of questionable recruiting practices, the Obama administration unveiled new rules that would cut off government financial aid for programs where too few students repay their loans or fail to find decent-paying jobs.

Add to this a series of lawsuits from former students, whistleblowers and investors, and it has been clear to for-profit colleges that they’d need to be more accountable in their recruiting and financial aid practices if they hope to retain their financial aid.

The University of Phoenix (owned by Apollo Group, Inc.):

• Created its own social network to connect students with alumni who could help them find jobs
• Developed a free three-week orientation program for students with fewer than 24 college credits; a passing grade is required to continue taking UP courses, and
• Canceled financial incentives for enrollment counselors based on admissions quotas.

As a result of these changes, student enrollment has declined by nearly half, and the company saw a $159 million net loss compared to last year. However, the school believes the new approach will ultimately result in fewer dropouts, higher graduation rates and lower loan default rates.

Meanwhile, Kaplan University (owned by the Washington Post Co.):

• Stopped paying incentives to recruiters, and
• Created a program allowing new students to take classes for up to five weeks for free before deciding whether to continue.

This school has seen a 47% decline in new enrollments and an attrition rate of 25% (of those, 60% were dismissed for lack of academic progress).

In his defense of the industry, CEO of the Washington Post Co. Donald Graham said at the annual meeting in May, “If we are to be guided only by those factors – student graduation rates and how much debt they incur – we would probably close down all, or almost all, of the institutions of higher education – whomever they may be run by – that serve poor students.”

Should for-profit institutions continue to be so closely scrutinized? Share your opinions in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

The plan is to discount summer tuition, according to Indystar.com. In-state students will get a 25% discount, while savings for out-of-staters is the same in dollars and cents, but comes to only 8% since they pay higher tuition.

As of this writing, the IU board of trustees is reviewing the plan.

A bonus of summer discount tuition would mean an increase in summer enrollment, IU President Michael McRobbie told the Indystar. He has his sights set on a 10% enrollment increase for next summer, and a 50% jump over the next five years.

In dollars and cents, students who are taking 16 credits would be able to save $1,000 or more under the plan.

Do you see any pitfalls to the plan? Let us know in the comments section below.

For the fifth year in a row, the percentage increase in average cost of a four-year public college was higher than at their private counterparts, says a new report from the College Board. Costs saw an 8.3% increase in the last year.

The average price for tuition and fees was $8,244 for in-state students, up from $7,613 last year.

While tuition continues to rise, state appropriations continue to plummet: in 2010-11, appropriations per full-time student dropped 4%, following a 6% drop in 2009-10 and 9% in 2008-9.

Part of the national percentage jump can be attributed to California, which enrolls about 10% of full-time public students (as well as about 15% of two-year college students). Actual increases vary from state to state – Connecticut and South Carolina saw only a 2.5% jump, for instance.

At private four-year colleges, however, tuition and fees saw only a 4.5% increase, from $27,265 to $28,500.

The College Board report also looked at net price after student aid (including grants and tax benefits) has been subtracted from the sticker price: $2,490 for public schools, compared to $12,970 for private schools.

Check out the full report here, then share your thoughts in the comments section – and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

Since 2005, 215 participants of 42 financial fraud rings have been convicted and ordered to pay $7.5 million in fines and restitution, according to new data from the Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General.

In fact, there are currently 100 open investigations (about 17% of the agency’s open cases) into distance-education fraud, encompassing thousands of suspects.

How the scam works: Fraudsters seek aid for “straw students” who don’t intend on attending college (or in some cases, aren’t even aware of the application). Financial aid goes to the college, which takes out tuition and fees and passes along the remainder to the “student” to cover expenses.

The more schools begin providing online courses, the more popular this form of financial aid fraud is becoming.

Community colleges have been hit hardest by this quick-cash scam, due to open enrollment and low tuition that leaves room for considerable excess aid. For instance, the online Rio Salado College in Arizona was the target of a $538,000 scheme that resulted in 64 convictions.

But the biggest fraud occurred at Axia College, a University of Phoenix program, where officials identified some 750 rings involving 15,000 perpetrators. Unfortunately, only four employees are currently available to identify fraud on a full-time basis.

The inspector general’s recommendation: Colleges must clamp down on identity verification, while Congress and the Education Department reconsider whether online students should be eligible for the same financial aid as students who attend on-campus courses.

How does your school respond to financial aid fraud? Tell us in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

At the University of California, Berkeley,  students held a bake sale to protest California SB 185.

If passed, the bill would allow state universities to consider race, gender and ethnicity in admissions processes — and that means the bill is “intrinsically racist,” according to the Berkeley College Republicans.

The student group protested the affirmative action bill by selling cupcakes with prices based on race and gender. For example:

• White males will cough up $2 per treat
• Asian males will have to fork over $1.50 each
• Latino men will be charged $1 apiece
• Black men will only pay 75 cents
• Native American males lucked out with the bargain baked goods — only a quarter each, and
• Females will receive a 25 cent discount on their respective group rates.

“A large group of the student population here is not politically involved and we’ve brought them into this discussion … Now they know [about the bill] and maybe they’re able to form their own opinions,” Berkeley College Republican vice president Mia Lincoln noted.

Is this protest too close to the line to be effective? Chime in below — and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

Sallie Mae’s annual “How America Pays for College” study says students are attending college with increasingly practical reasons in mind: getting better jobs and earning more money. 90% of students strongly agreed that college is an investment in the future, and increase from 84% in 2010.

To make that investment, virtually all families reported taking cost-savings measures including attending lower-cost schools, living at home or going to school only part-time.

Financial aid plays a big role, too, including scholarships and grants, which rose to 33% from 23% last year.

Here’s how the average American family pays for college:

• Grants and scholarships, 33%
• Parent income and savings, 30%
• Student borrowing, 15%
• Student income and savings, 11%
• Parent borrowing, 7%
• Relatives and friends, 4%

The annual study is based on a nationally representative survey of 1,600 college students and their parents.

Let us know what you think in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

Some of the top universities in the U.S. are pledging “no-loan” financial aid – replacing loans with grants for the neediest students and effectively reducing the price of college to zero. Here are the twelve best schools offering no-loan plans, according to the Washington Post’s Daniel de Vise:

• Amherst College – replaced loans with grants and work-study for all students (resulting in the number of students who qualify for Pell grants nearly doubling to 23%)
• Bowdoin College – phased out loans for all students in 2008
• Claremont McKenna and Pomona Colleges – phased out loans for all students (even those with household incomes nearing $100,000)
• Davidson College – phased out loans for all students in 2008
• Harvard University – pledges that families earning up to $180,000 will pay at most 10% of their income toward higher education
• Haverford College – phased out loans in aid awards
• Princeton University – pared loans from some financial aid awards (the first to do this, in 1998)
• Swarthmore College – eliminated loans from aid awards
• University Pennsylvania – eliminated loans from aid packages
• Vanderbilt University – eliminated loans from all need-based aid awards in 2009.

Has your school phased out loans in your financial packages? Let us know in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

57 percent of Americans say the higher education system fails to provide students with a good value for the money they spend, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center. And an even larger majority – 75% say college is too expensive for most Americans to afford.

The study collected opinions from two separate groups: 2,142 adults ages 18 and over, and 1,055 presidents of two-year and four-year colleges and universities.

While the general public has some complaints about the costs of college, higher education reps aren’t that happy with the general public, either – a 58% majority of presidents say public high school students arrive at college less prepared than their counterparts did a decade ago, and 52% say students study less.

As for the prohibitive costs of college, a majority of presidents (63%) answered that students and their families should pay the largest share of college education costs (only 48% of the public agrees with this).

Other findings:

• Only 19% of college presidents say the U.S. system of higher education is the best in the world right now, and only 7% think it will be the best in 10 years. However, 51% rank the U.S. system as one of the best in the world.
• The general public is split on the purpose of a college education: Just under half (47%) say it’s to teach work-related skills and knowledge, while 39% say it’s to help a student grow personally and intellectually, and
• While students and their families question whether or not college is a good investment, it’s hard to argue with the results: Those who graduated from a four-year college believe that they’re earning, on average, $20,000 more a year because of their degree. On the flip side, adults who didn’t attend college believe they’re earning $20,000 a year less as a result. (They’re very close: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median earnings gab between a high school and college grad is $19,550.)

What do you think of these survey results? Share your thoughts in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

For years, the University of Massachusetts has examined how quickly higher education has adopted social media. The latest findings: complete immersion, based on interviews from 456 college administrators.

In 2009-2010, the number of schools using some form of social media was at 95%. In the latest study, it was up to 100%.

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogging and podcasting are the top tools among colleges – all of which have seen double-digit increases in use over the last year. Also on the rise: RSS feed and email subscriptions of school websites.

But a surprising contender for dominance among college admissions officers is LinkedIn, which connects fellow admissions pros. It saw a rise from 16% last year to 47% most recently.

Of note is how schools have evolved their blogging strategies as a two-way communications tool, especially with students: In 2007, 37% of schools that had blogs didn’t accept comments, but most recently this has dropped to 15%.

What’s your social media weapon of choice? Let us know in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

For every acceptance letter admissions sends out, there are going to be a few high school seniors who aren’t quite ready for college. Here’s what you can tell them so they learn from the experience – and maybe come back stronger next year. They can:

• Contact the school they planned on attending
• Retake a failed course, or consider a conditional acceptance
• Enroll in their local community college: That way, they can decide what they want to do in an affordable way; and if they transfer to a university after two years, the university usually won’t ask them for their high school grades or SAT scores
• Apply to other colleges – some still accept late applications; the National Association of College Admissions Counseling maintains a list of these schools, and
• Reconsider other offers. If they turned down some places they got accepted to, see if those schools are still willing to offer them spots.

What else should students know? Share your advice in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

Seven out of 10 high school graduates don’t know where to start when it comes to financial aid, says a new survey by the nonprofit Public Agenda. They’re also less confident they’ll be financially secure than those with college degrees.

Only 36% of high school grads say it’s “very likely” they’ll be financially secure in their lifetime, compared to 55% of college grads.

The survey, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, interviewed 600 young adults, who had completed a college degree, post-secondary certificate or high school diploma. The results show a number of barriers high school grads face:

• They’re more likely to come from poorer, less educated families
• They lack basic knowledge about the higher education system and employers, and
• Aren’t convinced a college degree will pay off for them, especially if they need to borrow money to get it.

As a result, only 26% knew that FAFSA was a financial aid form. Other findings:

• 40% of high school grads see their job as a “career,” compared to 63% of college grads
• Only 15% of high school grads earned more than $75,000 annually, compared to 40% of college grads, and
• 29% of unemployed high school grads strongly agree they “may not be able to find a job in the next year,” compared to 11% of college grads.

How can schools increase high school grads’ awareness of financial aid options and boost their enrollment rates? Share your ideas in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

This year’s admissions acceptance rates were lower than usual. For example, here are acceptance rates for:

• Yale (7.4%)
• Princeton (8.4%)
• Dartmouth (9.7%), and
• University of Pennsylvania (12.3%).

And here are some of the mistakes applicants made — which ultimately caused them to be rejected, according to The Daily Beast:

1. The F-bomb: “There was a really strong candidate we didn’t admit because he used an enormous amount of profanity in his personal essay. He had a string of F-bombs that was pretty remarkable. I am not opposed to profanity and sometimes it can work. But, every third word doesn’t work. Otherwise, he would have gotten in,” according to an admissions officer at Brown University.
2. The gimmick: “We had a student this year who sent a life-sized poster of herself in a box with a catchy jingle. It was attached to helium-filled balloons. When it was opened, the life-sized poster was supposed to go up in the air and unfurl before us like we were in a Harry Potter movie. But the balloons didn’t quite work. I don’t know that this hurt the student, but investing a few more minutes on the essay would have been a better use of her time. I just thought, ‘Wow, I hope it works out for her.’ I didn’t go look her up to make a statement one way or the other,” according to an anonymous admissions instructor.
3. The generic essay: “We wanted to know, why Penn? Did you submit a generic essay that was part of a school’s supplement—another school’s supplement? You may need to do a little bit more research before you hit the submit button. Take notes during the campus visit, and even if it isn’t your top choice, still understand that you need to speak to that school and show what you are going to contribute to that campus. Articulate why this school is for you. Students who do well will start citing faculty and programs they want to explore,” according to a University of Pennsylvania admissions dean.
4. The attempt at bribery? “We received pies this year, two from the same person. She was trying to say she’s not an athlete, but a really great baker. That was really sweet. We didn’t take her, but we ate the pies,” according to an anonymous admissions dean at a liberal arts college.

Click here to read more admissions red flags that the Daily Beast found.

What’s the craziest reason you nixed an applicant? Share your story in the comments box below — and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

With states finalizing their budgets, state college funding is taking a major hit – forcing many schools to increase tuition and cut financial aid as a result. The problem: Families won’t hear about these cost changes until the end of summer – or even later.

Declining revenues from property, sales and income taxes, along with the end of funding from the 2009 stimulus, are receiving the blame for the states’ budget woes.

At least 19 states have cut funding for public schools so far. And some states are pulling back on grants only recently awarded to students. This includes:

• Texas, which announced 6-10% tuition hikes for some schools
• California, where tuition will increase by 12% – on top of the previously-announced 8-10% increases
• New Hampshire, which will see 6-10% hikes and will end all state grants
• Georgia, where the merit-based Hope Scholarship will pay only 87% of tuition rates, instead of its usual 100%, and
• Illinois, which will be reducing its grant sizes in January (in an effort to give students more time to plan).

How is your school preparing for budget cuts? Share your strategies in the comments section, and don’t forget to  follow us on Twitter.

Salisbury University in Maryland has officially decided to go standardized test-optional after experimenting with their admissions methods for five years. Now high school students with a GPA of 3.5 or higher no longer have to submit standardized test scores such as the SAT or ACT.

In their 2007 class, students who entered under the test-optional program graduated at a slightly higher rate than those who submitted test scores. This group also yielded a slightly higher cumulative GPA, and course completion rates than those students who submitted test scores.

The school joins the ranks of several hundred other colleges that have gone test-optional, part of a gradual shift in admissions criteria to value grades over test scores.

Has your school gone test-optional? Share your thoughts in our comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

Instead of a second essay, the University of Iowa is asking prospective students to submit a 140-character tweet. The best entry will net that student a full scholarship to the university’s Tippie College of Business MBA program.

The aim of this Twitter contest: making students get to the point quickly and improve their social media skills.

Students can answer the “essay” question, “What makes you an exceptional Tippie full-time MBA candidate and future MBA hire?” using links to their blogs, Facebook pages, videos or anything else they can fit into Twitter’s 140-character limit.

This isn’t the only way students can use Twitter to net them financial assistance. Other examples:

• Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Twitter scholarship offers $20,000 over four years for a winning tweet
• Applicants who can sum up their college experience in a single tweet can win $1,000 from Scholarship.com, and
• The tweet that best highlights how using Twitter can improve the world can score $1,400 at CollegeScholarships.org.

Is this an effective admissions tool, or is the school cashing in on a fad? Share your opinion in the comments section, and (of course) don’t forget to follow us on Twitter (no scholarships available).

Michigan’s ban on considering race and gender in the college admissions process has been ruled unconstitutional by a federal appeals court. The 2-1 decision overturns a law passed in 2006.

Proposal 2, passed with 58% of the vote, forced changes to admissions policies to prohibit preferential treatment to any individual or group based on their race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. But according to the U.S. 6^th Circuit Court of Appeals, the law violates the 14^th amendment’s equal protection clause.

Because Prop. 2 amended the state’s constitution, another statewide vote would be required to change it – which, the court argued, placed undue burden on minority interests who disapproved.

Other states within the 6^th circuit – Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee – will also be affected by the ruling. So far at least, the Michigan ruling won’t impact other state bans in California, Arizona, Nebraska and Washington.

State Attorney General Bill Schuette plans to appeal the ruling via rehearing, until which the law will remain in place.

Should affirmative action have an impact on college admissions? Share your views below, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

A new website from the Department of Education lets college-bound families compare tuitions, the pace at which they’re rising and the total net cost of attending each school (after room and board, etc.). These lists are required by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008.

According to the lists, the average 2009-2010 tuition at a four-year nonprofit college was $21,324. On the high end of the spectrum:

• Bates College, Maine – the highest tuition at $51,300
• Wells College, New York – the highest tuition increase in two years with 67%, and
• Art Center College of Design in California, with the highest net cost after financial aid at $29,672.

But while critics point to some uneven data (for example, the net cost numbers include only full-time, first-time students who received financial aid), the site still offers more comprehensive information than has previously been readily available.

How does your school compete with others on the list? Share your findings, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Rutgers’ Constitutional Litigation Clinic have teamed up to represent an American-born student who was denied state tuition assistance because of her mother’s citizenship status.

Identified only as A.Z., the graduating high school senior applied for a Tuition Aid Grant.

But her application was rejected by the state’s Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) along with the explanation that stated “her parents are not legal [state] residents.”

But A.Z. and her mother have lived in New Jersey for more than a decade.

HESAA requires students — or parents of minor students — to prove they’ve been “domiciled” in New Jersey for at least one year prior to receiving state aid, according to HESAA representative Marnie Grodman.

The definition of “domiciled” appears to be the sticking point, as “HESAA is taking the position that to be domiciled in New Jersey, you must be a legal [U.S.] resident, which is contrary to established New Jersey Supreme Court precedent,” ACLU attorney Alexander Shalom noted.

This isn’t the first time that legal questions have been raised when higher education and citizenship cross paths. For example:

• The U.S. Supreme Court recently let a California law stand. The law gives illegal immigrants a tuition break, allowing them to  pay in-state tuition.
• This summer, universities in Maryland will allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition.

But this student is an American citizen. Do you think the state should be allowed to reject her application based on her mother’s illegal status? Chime in below — and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

The University of Saskatchewan has settled on a new application process for its college of education: an online interview. It’s a move designed to replace the school’s old interviewing system, which used a lot of resources but wasn’t very effective.

Within the new system, 65% of the potential student’s overall score will be based on high school GPA, while 35% will be the end result of a series of questions covering subjects with themes including:

• Affirming dignity and respect for students
• Social and ecological justice
• Lifelong learning
• Creating a positive community in the class and school, and
• Building instructional competence.

The questions are sent via e-mail to the applicants, who will then have 24 hours to log in and answer. Once received, a team of four faculty volunteers will score the completed exams.

But even if a student flubs the questionnaire, a high GPA will ensure he or she is flagged for a mini-interview to be conducted face-to-face with the faculty.

What do you think of this new process? Share your thoughts in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

Launching later this year, the app will pull data from a user’s Facebook profile to track grant, scholarship and loan opportunities. It was designed by Devin Valencia, winner of the “Get Schooled” College Affordability Challenge, and developed through the Clinton Global Initiative University, MTV, the College Board and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The app doesn’t just use the Facebook info to create a customized list – it also gets users’ friends involved, tapping them for assistance. As a related service, it will provide tutorials on subjects from filling out paperwork to choosing how much debt to assume.

Studies say that upwards of two million college students don’t apply for the nearly $70 billion in federal financial aid, and 2/3 of students think applying for financial aid is difficult.

Is this a great way to use social media, or a privacy issue waiting to happen? Share your thoughts in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

With the average need-based awards at less than $15,000 – with loans included – cash-strapped students need all the help they can get. But students can appeal to any school for more funding if their financial aid doesn’t provide enough assistance.

Students and their parents should take these steps, suggested by the College Board:

1. Learn about the financial appeal process – check the school’s website for info on appeals procedures or required online forms
2. Contact the financial aid office – explain to a financial aid officer that you have questions about your package
3. Have a conversation – Don’t treat the call like a negotiation; if you approach it as a conversation, the aid officer can get a better sense of your needs
4. Follow up with email – send a one-page letter indicating your family’s situation to supplement the conversation
5. Leverage other offers – If the student has received better aid offers elsewhere, diplomatically mention this to the school (but be prepared to provide copies of these offers), and
6. Know when the appeal will be most effective – private schools are typically in a better position than state schools to adjust an aid package, and flagships are more likely to generate additional grants from endowments.

What other steps should aid-seeking families take? Share your ideas in the comments section, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

With almost 35,000 students, Harvard University received the largest number of applications for admission. But while the school admitted a record low 6.2% of applicants, there was good news for black and Latino students.

The class of 2015 is made up of 11.8% black and 12.1% Latino students – up slightly from 11.3% and 10.6%, respectively, during the previous year – making it potentially a record-setting number of minority admissions for the school.

Harvard credits its Undergraduate Minority Recruitment program for the boost. Current minority students coordinate recruitment efforts, reaching out to prospective applicants, answering questions and addressing concerns about the school.

Also helping: the financial aid budget, which increased to $160 million this year. More than 60% of admitted students will be able to make use of the need-based scholarships (averaging over $40,000 per student) and providing Harvard with its most racially and ethnically diverse class yet.

How has your school worked to increase minority enrollment? Share your plans below, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

You might not know it, but there are already 10 states that permit illegal immigrants/undocumented immigrants (for a debate on which term should be used, click here) to pay in-state tuition rates when certain conditions are met. Now, Maryland has taken a big step toward joining that group.

The state’s general assembly passed a measure that would green-light in-state community college rates for undocumented students who have attended Maryland high schools for at least three years and whose families pay state taxes.

Under the measure, students who complete 60 credit hours could then transfer to a four-year institution at the in-state rate.

Supporters say it’s about investing in our youth, while opponents cringe at the idea of making a benefit available to such students when it is not available to out-of-state U.S. citizens.

Last year, California’s highest court shot down a challenge to a similar law in that state.

Which side has it right? Tell us what you think in the comments section below — and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

Students who attend Fort Hays State University in Kansas have a pretty good shot at earning money from the economic stimulus package, as part of the university’s Tuition Inventive Program.

According to the requirements of the program, students who maintain a “C” grade or better qualify for payment for the course — a total of $10 per credit hour.

Director of Financial Assistance Craig Karlin noted that students earned an average of a little more than $100 per semester and that the program helps students “buy books and things being credited. That much more tuition the student won’t have to pay.”

With the minimum requirement set at average grades, are students really earning their incentive rewards? Chime in below — and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

The number of colleges that use Facebook in connection with admissions and recruiting efforts has hit a staggering level, according to a recent survey. If a recent Kaplan survey is accurate, more than 80% of schools have jumped on the Facebook bandwagon and have begun using the site to connect with applicants.

That makes it more important than ever for budding undergrads to mind their p’s and q’s when it comes to their Facebook profiles. Among the tips offered by a recent report from Fox Business on the topic:

• Pay close attention to that profile picture. It’s easy to see and should never show something illegal or inappropriate.
• Avoid making extremely negative comments. Obviously, keep your page clear of any racist, sexist and homophobic remarks.
• Select privacy settings that restrict access to personal information and photos.
• Be careful when it comes to selecting Facebook friends.

Facebook can be used to the advantage of applicants — they can express interest by “liking” schools or affiliated groups.

Should a review of Facebook pages be part of the application screening process? Tell us what you think in the comments section below — and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.