An article entitled "Will You Get Enough Financial Aid?" in U.S. News just reported some troubling news for students who are applying to college. Here's a summary of what the article's author, Kim Clark, has to report: Fewer students are getting financial assistance. "Fewer than 3 percent of all the colleges in the country promise that they will award enough financial aid to meet the full financial needs of admitted students in 2010," Clark reports. Loans are replacing scholarships. Clark writes that ". . . the downturn in the economy has forced a growing number of even the wealthiest schools to increase the amount of loans they plan to ask needy students to take." Colleges are looking at your home's value. According to Clark, so ...

Are colleges now charging more than the average American family is willing to pay? "Squeeze Play 2010: Continued Public Anxiety On Cost, Harsher Judgments On How Colleges Are Run," a recent survey of 1,031 adults conducted by Public Agenda, shows that Americans still believe in the value of a college education. But at the same time, more of them are growing anxious as tuition costs spiral out of control. Let's take a look at what the survey found. First, the good news about American's perception of a college education . . . 55% of Americans believe that "A college education is necessary for a person to be successful in today's world." Back in year 2000, the same survey found that only 31% of Americans believed that was true. 59 ...

Years ago, military personnel wasted a lot of idle time playing cards or reading magazines in the barracks. Now that has all changed. More men and women in uniform are using their time to pursue college degrees online. According to "Online Degrees Offer Soldiers More Opportunities," a recent article by Natasha Bright in TRCB.com, more and more military personnel are discovering the efficiency of studying online. According to Bright, "Soldiers have always reported that one of the greatest challenges they face in serving is the rigorous schedules that they are forced to work on. For this reason, many soldiers have commonly felt that schooling was simply not a feasible option. More and more that is simply becoming untrue as colleges open up ...

Here is an interview conducted by Keith Hampson that gives a nice overview of how Straighterline reduces the cost of college education. It is reprinted below: Burck Smith is CEO of Straighterline. Full bio. Q: Burck, can we begin with a high-level description of Straighterline? Straighterline provides very affordable, very flexible, very well supported online general education courses for college students. These courses have been reviewed and approved by the American Council of Education's (ACE) Credit Review Service, by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), and by numerous regionally accredited colleges. Students can get real college credit at any college that will award credit for ACE recognized courses or from one of Straig ...

In October, Straighterline's courses were reviewed by the American Council on Education's (ACE) Credit Recommendation Service. All nine of Straighterline's credit bearing courses were given approval. This means that any college - and there are thousands - that adheres to ACE's recommendations will now accept Straighterline's courses for credit. To get college credit at Straighterline's prices, do the following: Ask the college in which you wish to enroll whether they award credit for ACE recognized coursework. If the college does, then sign up and pass a Straighterline course. Sign up at the ACE Transcript Service and pay $40. Have the service forward your Straighterline results to your college of choice. Alternatively, if your co ...