Author: Grace Peasley

Jeff Selingo wrote Dream School for families. College leaders, especially those at tuition-dependent, four-year residential undergraduate institutions, should read it as market research. Across the book, a consistent message emerges: Outside a small group of elite institutions, families increasingly want proof—not promises—of career preparation, hands-on learning, belonging, affordability, and institutional capacity. That means yield is […]

Read More… from Reading Dream School as an Enrollment Strategy: Five Imperatives for College Leaders

My obsessive read this month has been The Signal Solution: How Smart Colleges Stop Chasing Applications and Start Converting Students by Geoff Baird and Teege Mettille. It’s a work of piercing insight, warning that the college admissions process—and by extension higher education writ large—is caught in the middle of a category 5 hurricane. Part 1 […]

Read More… from Examining the Five Forces Changing the College Admissions Process

The recent proliferation of articles regarding Congress’s cap on federal student loans, following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, has focused primarily on the impact on graduate students who may not be able to borrow 100 percent of the cost of attendance for their graduate degrees, particularly professional degrees. I have never been […]

Read More… from The Impact of High College Cost of Attendance on Low-Income Families

For the last few years, the test-optional debate has often been framed as a simple yes-or-no question: should colleges require the SAT or ACT, or should students be allowed to decide whether scores strengthen their applications? The latest wave of admissions-policy reversals suggests that the better question is more specific: which colleges benefit from requiring […]

Read More… from Test-Optional Colleges Are Not Going Away—But the Admissions Market Is Splitting