Top Academic and Admission Strategies for Colleges
Copyright (c) 2008 Karen Bolton
With the rising cost of college, it is important to utilize as many cost cutting strategies as possible. Let’s explore some top academic and admission strategies to help reduce the cost of college.
1.Career Planning
Career planning is often overlooked during the college planning process. However, this is one of the most important decisions that students will make. Without proper career planning, many students take 5-6 years to complete a degree. Many students receive degrees in declining growth fields or fields with a surplus of applicants and cannot find employment after graduation.
However, this can play a critical role in reducing the overall cost of college. A contributing factor in the college dropout and transfer rates is a lack of career planning and a failure to make college decisions based on career goals. Research by the US Dept of Education and American College Testing show that each year, approximately 50% of college freshman leave the college in which they first enrolled. Of the dropouts, about 30% transfer to other colleges at least once, and 20% transfer twice and typically take 6 or more years to complete a 4-year program.
Students who receive career planning prior to college selection and attendance have few major changes and college transfers, graduate on time, and tend to be more goal- and academic-focused. You may want to check out web-based career planning services at www.careerdimension.com and www.myroad.com.
2. Use Smart Admission Strategies
Apply where the student is academically above the incoming freshman class profile. Private colleges place a premium on good students and will often use tuition discounts to