News Articles About College Applications

Across the country, both private and public institutions of higher education have announced that they will be test-optional for students applying to enter school in the fall of 2021. This policy, instituted as a response to coronavirus cancellations of standardized testing dates, comes with the caveat that it would only exist during next year’s round of admissions. But the University of California system has gone in an entirely different direction by announcing that will no longer require the SAT or ACT for all California state applicants.

University of California Seeks New Standardized Test

May 27, 2020 11:42 AM
by Izzy Hall
Across the country, both private and public institutions of higher education have announced that they will be test-optional for students applying to enter school in the fall of 2021. This policy,
It’s said that choosing where to go to college is one of the most important decisions a high school senior makes, and this year, that seems truer than ever. It’s not just where you decide to go to college – it’s when, and if, and a whole host of other questions. Much research has been done on what high school seniors might choose to do in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. But now is the time to reflect on what seniors can do, especially as National Decision Day looms on the horizon. At Scholarships.com, we want to help high school seniors feel empowered in these novel times. Below, we outline what your choices are and how to enact them.

College Decision Options for High School Seniors

April 28, 2020 8:33 AM
by Izzy Hall
It’s said that choosing where to go to college is one of the most important decisions a high school senior makes, and this year, that seems truer than ever. It’s not just where you decide to go to
Traditionally, May 1 is National Decision Day, the deadline by which high school seniors commit to their desired college or university by signing their Letters of Intent to enroll. This year, due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, many colleges have postponed the deadline until June 1. Most students will have received their college admissions acceptance letters by April 1 and the good news is that this deadline extension gives them some extra time in making presumably the biggest decision of their current lives. Now that you may have some more time to deliberate on which college you'd like to attend, quickly run through these checklists to ensure you're truly ready for the big day!

May 1 is National Decision Day 2020

April 24, 2020 10:21 AM
by Susan Dutca-Lovell
Traditionally, May 1 is National Decision Day, the deadline by which high school seniors commit to their desired college or university by signing their Letters of Intent to enroll. This year, due to
Taking (and retaking) the SAT, ACT or both has been a tradition of junior and senior high school students for decades. Students taking these tests hope to get the best score possible and secure a spot at their first-choice school. But due to the coronavirus pandemic, SAT and ACT testing dates have been cancelled from March up through June, and state examinations have also been cancelled for this school year. In the wake of these cancellations, many top private institutions have announced that they will go “test-optional” and waive ACT and SAT requirements for current high school juniors and others looking to enter college in the fall of 2021.

Wave of Colleges Going Test-Optional for 2021

April 21, 2020 8:29 AM
by Izzy Hall
Taking (and retaking) the SAT, ACT or both has been a tradition of junior and senior high school students for decades. Students taking these tests hope to get the best score possible and secure a
As a high school student in the midst of the standardized testing season and living through the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be wondering what the future holds for standardized test scores, AP courses, and the college admissions process. A recent survey conducted by The College Board revealed than 91 percent of 18,000 polled enrollees still want to take their AP tests. In fact, in 900 pages of comments responding to the AP survey, AP students begged to be allowed at least one championship bout with an AP test.

Coronavirus Impact on SAT, ACT, and AP Testing

March 26, 2020 2:56 PM
by Susan Dutca-Lovell
As a high school student in the midst of the standardized testing season and living through the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be wondering what the future holds for standardized test scores, AP courses,
The U.S. Department of Education's StudentAid.gov website debuted a variety of new tools, including a personalized loan simulator, new alert and notification system, and aid summary tool. These enhancements are some of the first of several upgrades to the website that will roll out in 2020, delivering on U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' promise to modernize and personalize the customer experience with federal student aid, according to the news release. Here are the latest tools released and what they mean:

StudentAid.gov Debuts New Online Tools

February 25, 2020 10:59 AM
by Susan Dutca-Lovell
The U.S. Department of Education's StudentAid.gov website debuted a variety of new tools, including a personalized loan simulator, new alert and notification system, and aid summary tool. These
Not every student who goes to college completes their degree, much less finishes it within the normal four-year time frame. The Texas of A&M University has spent years working to re-enroll students who stopped out of college for a year or more, and may have found a solution in partnering with ReUp Education.

Texas A&M Working to Re-enroll College Stopouts

September 26, 2019 2:15 PM
by Susan Dutca-Lovell
Not every student who goes to college completes their degree, much less finishes it within the "normal" four-year time frame. The Texas of A&M University has spent years working to re-enroll students
College Board is ditching its previous plan to capture socioeconomic information from students with a single score - also known as an adversity score - when scoring their SAT college admissions test. The score would have taken into account a student's socioeconomic background and the neighborhood in which they grew up.

College Board Backpedals - No Adversity Score to be Added

August 30, 2019 2:05 PM
by Susan Dutca-Lovell
College Board is ditching its previous plan to capture socioeconomic information from students with a single score - also known as an "adversity score" - when scoring their SAT college admissions
Dozens of suburban Chicago families have been using a legal loophole to help their children get need-based college financial aid and scholarships. By their parents' forfeiting legal guardianship, students are able to declare financial independence so they qualify for federal, state and university financial aid.

Parents Giving Up Guardianship for College Cash?

July 30, 2019 9:24 AM
by Susan Dutca-Lovell
Dozens of suburban Chicago families have been using a legal loophole to help their children get need-based college financial aid and scholarships. By their parents' forfeiting legal guardianship,
View 165 More Articles