It's back to school time, which also means it's college ranking season. 

I think ranking colleges is a pretty silly exercise, but I understand that we humans are wired to compare A to B to C and so forth.  And I read them too.

To me, one of the most striking things about the various and sundry rankings is what they leave out.  Probably because it is unrankable:

Student effort

A couple of the Big Rankers measure average salaries, post-graduation, at each college.  Fine. But here's what does not go into those rankings, as far as I can tell:

• Elite colleges generally get the highest marks.  But elite colleges are heavily populated by kids from wealthy families.  It's great that Chip graduated from Princeton (and Exeter/Andover/Choate/Fieldston) and is pulling down $125K in his first year in consulting, but is that really because he went to Princeton? Or that Chip's old man (also Chip) called in a favor for his boy.
• The aforementioned effort.  What...

GM, just letting know that we posted the recording of Sunday night's SAT and ACT walkthrough, to help you figure out Which Test is Best.

Watch it here, I'll keep it up and available tor the rest of the week:

WEBINAR RECORDING

- Andy Lockwood

P.S.  We're temporarily offering a $115 off "scholarship" on all of our prep courses, online and in person.  Use coupon code PREVIEW23 on our test prep website, LockwoodCollegePrep.com

Free SAT/ACT Webinar

I'll be faster than and almost as powerful as a speeding locomotive with this message:

Tonight, our head tutor, Marissa U, will host a live walkthrough of each of the sections of the SAT and ACT, in order to help you figure out Which Test is Best...

...to help your kiddo multiply his odds of admission to his Dream School...

...and get his mitts on the scholarships you deserve to help combat the ridiculous cost of college!

The whole thing will be over in order an hour, but there will be plenty of time for Q&A.

Sign up here, and you will discover

• Which test is best for kids good at math
• Which test is the "faster one"
• The hidden "science section" on the SAT
• More

SAT/ACT PREVIEW

See you in class.

- Andy Lockwood

P.S.  There's no charge to attend, but the information you learn could save you dozens of stressful hours, not to mention thousands of donuts in wasted tutoring fees for the Wrong Test.

P.P.S.  Here's the sign up page one...

If you've been on my email list for a little bit, you won't be shocked to learn that I was a big Mad Magazine fan back in the day.   

One of my favorite features was the Spy vs. Spy cartoon, which depicted outlandish battles between one faceless spy, dressed all in black, the other, identical but in white attire.

To the best of my recollection, there was hardly ever a clear winner, which was satisfying to some people, I guess.  But not to me. I always wanted to know which spy was better.

A lot of parents, and kids, feel the same way about the SAT or ACT.  There's an assumption that one is "better," meaning one that colleges prefer, or is better in some other, undefined way.  Possibly because those of us who grew up in the 80s on the East or West coast may never have heard of the ACT, which was largely a midwestern thang until it grew, and eclipsed the SAT 7-8 years ago.

Here's the deal...

Colleges are agnostic.  They accept either test.  So the...

Earlier in the week, a client said "Danger, Will Robinson!" to me, evoking a popular show people our age grew up with, Lost in Space.

That was a black and white adventure series about a family of space travelers, who bounced around from planet to planet, adventure to adventure, always trying to find their way home, but never quite getting there.

Reminds me a lot of how college planning works, including standardized testing. 

Parents (and kids) bounce around all over the place, getting conflicting, "adventurous" thoughts and advice form other parents, kids, guidance counselors, maybe even (artificial intelligence) robots about standardized testing, like:

• Don't take either the SAT or ACT, colleges don't need them
• Don't submit your scores
• You have to submit your scores if you're not a minority applicant
• You have to submit your scores if you want to get scholarships
• The SAT is better for kids good at math
• If you're bad at science, don't take the ACT
• Study for both the SAT and...

I uploaded last week's webinar on the New Rules of Financial Aid  to our podcast,  The College Planning Edge. 

(Yes, I too have a podcast.)

The changes affect families applying for aid next year, who have more than child in college at the same time, as well as divorced families and small business owners.  

I'll be blunt:  most of the new rules are pretty sucky.  But some of the other ones ain't all bad, like the ones covering grandparents who help pay for college, and parents who contribute to their retirement accounts.

I also predicted delays and confusion surrounding the entire process.  That will be fun.  Not.

Here's where you can listen to this episode, and the tips and strategies I offered to cope...

...and get your hands on the financial aid and scholarships you deserve to take a bite out of the insane cost of college!

POCAST EPISODE

- Andy "Long Time Listener, First Time Caller" Lockwood

...

There's a not-so-silent financial aid killer, lurking in the shadows, awaiting hapless families looking to apply for college financial aid this year.

This assassin appears to have targeted middle class and upper middle class families with college-bound kids.

Who-slash-what is this criminal?

The federal Department of Education.  The Department has revamped its financial aid eligibility rules for the first time in 40 years.  The press has called these changes "tectonic."

I call them, "sh-tty."

Parden my francais, but I calls 'em like I sees 'em.  And in a few minutes, I'll be doing just that when we go live:

I'm doing a last-minute, quickie webinar on the changes -- and my thoughts and strategies on how to cope -- if you're applying for financial aid this year and beyond.

Here's some of what's on tap tonight:

*Rules changes for families with more than one child in college

*Rules changes for business owners

*Rules changes for divorced families

*Rules changes for how...

Everyone knows that the cost of college is waaaaaay of hand...

...except the Department of Education, it appears.

This year, they're implementing the largest overhaul of the rules about financial aid eligibility in 40 years.

I've seen these new rules, and they ain't pretty, for the most part.  Actually, they're pretty damn anti-middle class.

One of the changes that hits close to home for me, personally, is the one that pulls off the table the credit, or "discount" in the rules for families with multiple children in college.  I have three kids in college, which is why I'm taking this personally.  But it's not just me, 60% of families have more than one child in college.

Under the old rules, if you had two in college, your eligibility would be DOUBLE that of someone with the same income, savings, etc. but only one child in college.  

Now, both families are eligible for the same amount.  Even a family with quintuplets would be treated the same way as...

At 7:31 am I was on a morning news show that Pearl and I couldn't figure out how to watch, discussing the pending changes in financial aid, including the elimination of the "sibling discount."

As usual, I didn't have enough time to delve into all of the items I felt were important, possibly because the producers didn't want to put their audience to sleep.

So I decided to throw together a last minute, quickie webinar on the new rules of financial aid and what they mean for you, tomorrow night, to walk you through what you need to know if you're applying for financial aid for the upcoming year and/or beyond.

Here's some of what's on tap for tomorrow night:

*Rules changes for families with more than one child in college

*Rules changes for business owners

*Rules changes for divorced families

*Rules changes for how contributions from grandparents or others are treated in the financial aid formulas

*Changes in the timing of when you file

*The effect of the changes on...

Yesterday I swapped a few texts with a mom, a successful architect, about signing up her son for our upcoming SAT prep class (starts tonight).  

She was a repeat client, which isn't unusual for a business like ours. What was unusual, however, was the story of her older daughter, Mary.

When Mary enrolled in her prep class with our head tutor, Marissa, hopes were pretty low.   She was a little down and out, having taken the ACT four times, failing to hit the score the rowing coach said she needed to be recruited to her top choice college.

The more she tried, the worse things got.  Marissa and I figured that Mary was suffering from a classic case of Test Anxiety, but the weird thing was that Mary was a competitive athlete, used to performing under pressure.

I personally thought Mary should have opted for 1:1 tutoring to focus on her specific issues, instead of taking a full-blown, basic review, but I kept my thoughts to myself.

Weeks...