Well, they'd better tell the school. Again, and again, and again. What am I talking about? According to USA Today, universities pay attention to how badly you want to go there. They check to see if you visited their campus, and how many times you've logged onto their college Web site. They want to know if you had an interview, and whether you asked for more material, or spoke to faculty members. In short, they want to know exactly how interested you are in going to their school.
A study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling found that 55 percent of schools consider how interested you are when they evaluate your application. Why? With too many qualified students applying for too few slots, colleges need more than grades and SAT scores to help them make decisions. Also, the better a student knows a school before they arrive, the less likely they'll be to flunk out or transfer. So, once your kid has picked out their favorite college, make sure the college knows about it, too.
And in an effort to attract more low-income students, Harvard has made a surprising announcement.
Next fall, Harvard students whose parents make less than $40,000 dollars a year won't have to pay a penny toward tuition, fees, or room and board. Unlike Harvard, most universities can't afford to give students a free ride, but this will probably have an impact on universities that do have deep pockets--And we'll keep you posted.