This guest post comes to you from David Bakke, a financial contributor for Money Crashers Personal Finance, where he shares his best tips and insights for saving for college, investing, and planning for retirement.

Figuring out a way to pay for your child’s college education is a challenge, especially since tuition rates continue to escalate. But even though the cost seems excessive, the payoff for your child can be significant. [Read More]

CB extends its thanks to Saint Louis University for participating in our Admissions Spotlight Series, and to Joseph Fernandez from Parliament Tutors who conducted this interview.

As an Admissions Counselor, what are your day-to-day responsibilities?
[We] review applications, accept or deny students, inform students of their application/acceptance status, and counsel students on the admission and enrollment process (including financial aid).

What do you consider the most significant parts of an application, the parts which applicants should prepare the most carefully?
I would say that the essay is incredible important because that is the one opportunity we have to see the prospective student as who they are instead of just simply the scores that they have received during their high school academic career. Make sure that essays are written and organized clearly, and detail a topic that the student finds interesting. The essays should also be edited and checked for grammar errors.

Is there anything you frequently see on an application that you hope to never see again?
Generic essays and letters that were copied to multiple schools where the other school’s name is still left in the subject line. Grammar errors are also a problem. Students need to pay attention to the details. Everything should be clear and concise.

What common pitfalls should applicants be careful to avoid?
Grammar errors.

Are there any myths about the application process which you would like to dispel?
That a student is alone in the application process. Schools have admission staff to help prospective students. We are here — you are not alone!

What advice would you give to an applicant with below-average standardized test scores but significant work experience?
It is always a good idea to continuously retest in order to try for a higher score. That being said, if there is a extenuating circumstance that contributed to the below-average score, you can explain that in the essay.  Progress shows in our applications and we can see when a student is trying for improvement.

What do you look for in a recommendation letter?
We look for a recommendation letter from an individual who can speak to the applicants character with specific details that illustrate the desired image of the student.

Suppose an applicant has little or no experience relevant to your program, but has significant experience in other fields.  What can that applicant do to distinguish himself or herself in your eyes as a good candidate for your program?
I would encourage the student to look for internships or shadowing programs relevant to his or her intended major. However, we are happy to talk to students from a diverse background who are interested in pursuing a new field.

Joseph Fernandez is a San Francisco tutor with Parliament Tutors.  He specializes in SAT Prep Tutoring.

Are you attending or thinking or attending a “big” college? You’re definitely not alone Check out today’s post, in which Alivia Ashenfarb, now a Boston University sophomore, reflects on those first weeks at school.

When I first heard the phrase “Find the right school for you,” I was inundated with relief. Finding a college could be as easy as finding the right pair of jeans? The “right” school just needed to look and feel good? Finding a college sounded downright easy. As my college search wore on, however, I heard that phrase more and more, and it started to sound less and less like a piece of advice than an ultimatum. How can you find the right school when you don’t know the definition of “right” or even the definition of “you”?

I learned that guidance counselors, parents, friends, and books are essential resources in finding the answer to this question. After completing my college search and choosing to attend Boston University, I learned that some of these answers can’t come from the above sources. They come from time, experience, and a serious exploration of that ambiguous “you.” Having utilized these sources and learning firsthand what it is like to go to a big, urban school with students from around the world, I picked up a few tips that may give your search more clarity:

Size. “How big is too big?” “Can I handle a big school?” “Do I want the closeness of a small school?” These are questions I asked myself in high school. After attending a year at BU, which has about 20,000 undergrads and 14,000 grad students, I have learned that “big” is not necessarily bad. I had no problem finding closeness at BU. Roommates and floormates make meeting friends easy and instant. Classroom friends can be easy to find, too, since giant lectures are not the only classes offered. Schools also have smaller classes (mostly in language, writing, and math) that they require students to take, as well as small discussion classes to accompany giant lectures. For example, I took a political science class with over 100 students. My discussion section for this class, however, had 12 people. There, I got to meet my friends and study partners.

Location. BU is located in Boston, Massachusetts, a city of about 620,000 people. Venturing into the city was always an adventure my freshman year; it gave me a mesh of cultures and histories that I don’t think a small suburban campus could’ve offered. I never got lost in the city or on campus, and I don’t know of anyone who did. Giant maps are conveniently located all over campus with blue boxes, phones to use in case of emergency at every corner. Campus visits will tell you right away about your school’s setting and campus layout, and I recommend taking those trips in your search. As for suburban campuses looking nicer, that depends on your taste! Urban campuses like mine promote nature with trees, gardens, and grassy study spots that can make you forget you’re in a city– if that’s what you’re looking to do.

Campus life. Lucky for me, BU is located in one of the largest college metropolises in the world. Meeting students from other colleges is easy when you’re in a college town, never mind a major U.S. city. There are parties on and off campus that can be as wild as the ones in movies. At the same time, there are quiet campus events like talent expos and educational events featuring prominent professors and local leaders that many students attend. I got to hear from Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and BU professor, in a lecture about forgiveness that I’ll never forget. Equally unforgettable are the Boston Marathon and other off-campus events that no college guide can tell you about.

Looking back on my college search, I realize that finding a college is lot like finding a pair of jeans. It shouldn’t be stressful, especially if you remember to take your time, start early with your search, reach out to students that go to your prospective schools, visit, decide how much you want to experiment in a new setting with new people, and know that there are things guidance counsellors and college guidebooks don’t know, things only you can find out by testing the waters.

Alivia Ashenfarb is a sophomore at Boston University.

Does your college have a “reputation”? The Ivies certainly do. But even schools with great reputations deserve the chance for you to get to know them and earn your own opinion of them. Check out today’s post, in which Erica Sollazzo, now a Princeton sophomore, looks back on her first days on campus.

This past spring at Princeton, during a preview weekend for high school seniors, I caught sight of an excited disturbance on the lawn in front of Nassau Hall, the university’s main building. Curious, I drifted over toward the grass, picking my way through a crowd of prospective students and their parents. Only when I reached the front of the group did I realize what everyone was watching: On the lawn, dressed in pastel-colored polo shirts and knee-high argyle socks, was a group of Princeton students playing a rousing game of croquet.

Whenever a player managed to hit the ball through a wicket, the others would clap, but the kind of reserved, dignified clapping heard at golf tournaments when a player sinks a putt. To top it all off, the players were talking about their “troublesome yachts” and “summer homes” in loud, exaggerated British accents. I laughed, cognizant of the fact that my classmates were poking fun at a stereotype associated with Princeton—that the entire student body is made up of wealthy, prep-school kids from the upper crusts of society. Having spent nearly a full year at Princeton, I knew that this generalization wasn’t true, that Princeton’s students come from all walks of life. But as I left the lawn, I heard a boy whisper to his father in disbelief, “They really do wear argyle!”

When I first started at Princeton, I wasn’t very worried about how “pretentious” the student body would be. I knew that, like almost any college, Princeton would have a diverse mix of students who would be interesting, intelligent, and down-to-earth. The stereotypes that concerned me more were academic, not social, ones. For one thing, I remember fretting over whether I could handle the workload for what were sure to be difficult classes. I also feared that the pressure of attending an Ivy League school would create a maliciously competitive atmosphere, one in which my classmates would refuse to share notes or help me study. I recalled an information session at Harvard that I attended as a high school senior; the admissions officer had adamantly denied rumors about students intentionally hiding each other’s textbooks. If the representative had taken such trouble to repudiate these claims, I thought, there must be some grain of truth in them.

Luckily, my freshman year contained absolutely none of these academic horror stories. I collaborated with a group of eager students to study for my Calculus final, and I received constructive criticism from my peers on the papers I wrote for Writing Seminar. Not only did these students come from all over the world (I even made a friend who hails from Sri Lanka), but they seemed genuinely excited to study at Princeton, genuinely grateful for the many unique opportunities the university offers. I know I appreciated the chance to hear Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speak (professor emerita and alumna of Princeton, respectively). And I quickly learned that each student has an interesting, hidden talent or passion that wouldn’t be noticeable at first glance—after all, what made them stand out to an admissions committee also makes them stand out as people.

The one drawback—if it can be called a drawback—to studying in the midst of so many talented and driven students is that I often worry about what career path I’ll end up taking. Being surrounded by budding doctors, lawyers, and stockbrokers is stressful sometimes, especially since I’m not yet sure about a major. But I’m glad I have the opportunity to explore Princeton—and yes, even don a polo shirt or two–until I figure it out.

Erica Sollazzo is a sophomore at Princeton.

We’re pretty much smitten by social media here at The CollegeBound Network, but one of the things we love best about it is all of the friends in higher education whom we’ve met on Twitter. We especially enjoy tweeting with the good people at Overture Marketplace, the brains behind the Student Loan Marketplace and the College Money Insider blog. They thought you’d like to know that even though paying for college can seem like a nightmare at times, it can also be a dream come true. Take a look at this fun infographic below for some inspiration!

–The CollegeBound Network

From June 24th to June 26^th, while an estimated 75,000 people danced and sang along to the musicians of the Dave Matthews Band Caravan in Atlantic City, NJ, I did about 75,000 squats picking up garbage. Plastic cups, aluminum cans,  paper plates, and more. I felt a little like Templeton from Charlotte’s Web (except I didn’t dare eat any of the remains) and a lot like Servo, the maid-robot in the Sims computer game, picking up every piece of trash within my reach.

I was among seven people volunteering with Clean Vibes, the North Carolina-based company that recycles and disposes of trash for outdoor festivals like Bonaroo, the four-day-long music festival in Tennessee, and the three-day-long Dave Matthews Band Caravan. The idea was to help improve Atlantic City’s Bader Field and the environment, but really, my friends and I were willing to do anything for a free concert (the reward of volunteering with Clean Vibes).

I learned a few lessons during my trip—and none of them had to do with garbage. A lot of the “follow your heart” advice friends, parents, and teachers give to students like myself came to life for me while volunteering on the 143 acres of Bader Field during those three hot summer days. With a garbage bag around my waist and latex gloves on my hands, I walked around the garbage-ridden land, observing the people that surrounded me. The concert-goers. The security guards. The food vendors. The volunteers. And, of course, the band members. I wasn’t so philosophical at the time, considering I was covered in dirt and sweat and tired from lunging all day, but I noticed how many different types of people made their way to the Dave Matthews concert that weekend and began to finally understand two concepts I’ve been hearing from people for years: 1) You should only do what you’re passionate about and 2) It is OK to not know what your passion is just yet.

1. You should only do what you’re passionate about. Having finished my first year of college without coming any closer to deciding a major (something I have to do by the end of next year), this idea means a lot to me. And if you’re a college-bound student, it probably means a lot to you, too. While big-time newspapers and businesses around the world continue to roll out lists of “The Most-Wanted Degrees for 2011” and “The Top-Paying Jobs of the Future,” it is important to keep in mind that the facts and statistics these articles contain cannot pressure, prevent, or prescribe your dreams. Though I usually devour these articles the second they come out, looking for signs that I will not be poor and unemployed when I get out of school, from now on, I will be slower to ingest these stories and instead contemplate how I can fit myself into this predicted success—whether I see my potential major or job on the list or not.

After seeing how dedicated Clean Vibes is about taking care of the earth, how moved by their music the Carolina Chocolate Drops are, and how committed the security and health officials are to keeping people safe, I know that passion is what makes the difference between picking a can up or leaving it there, putting feeling into a song or faking it, and providing quality care to other–or simply not caring enough.

2) It is OK to not know what your passion is just yet. While sayings like “Do what you love” and “Don’t settle for anything less” are helpful in steering many people in the right direction, they do almost nothing for the people who are unsure of their passions. While I smiled and squatted wholeheartedly for the entire length of my five-hour shift at the Dave Matthews Caravan, many of my co-volunteers hid, or tried to hide, their contempt towards working the night shift (from 6 to 11 P.M.) when The Flaming Lips and the Dave Matthews Band were set to perform. These people had come for the music—that was what they loved and that was what helped dictate their summer plans. I, on the other hand, knew none of the 41 bands save for Dave Matthews, and agreed to this volunteer gig with the hopes of finding new music, meeting new people, and contributing to a cause–and deciding what I thought about all of the above at a later date.

Did I love music the way these concert-goers, volunteers, and bands did? Did I love Clean Vibes’s mission to “actively encourage and promote… proper waste disposal” as much as the Clean Vibes employees? Did I see myself as fitting into any of the job classifications I noticed on site? I’m not entirely sure, but I saw myself as a volunteer. And for now, that is all I know.

While I did not enjoy the music as much as my friends, or share the same experiences many of the Clean Vibes employees and volunteers had, hopping from state to state and even country to country, following bands and trash-dumping people, I did enjoy spending my weekend in a way I had never done before. I got to reunite with my college friends and camp out at Mays Landing, the family-friendly camp ground just along the Egg Harbor River, complete with pool and shower house. I got to build a fire and help my fellow campers start their own since they were having some difficulty. And I got to sit around the fire and in my car, covered in dirt, and later, much cleaner, at my desk, reflecting on my summer experience and planning for the future.

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” That is what Howard Thurman, famous author, educator, and civil rights leader said. It is the quote I was introduced to during my Freshman Orientation at Boston University last year and it is a quote that right now means more to me than “follow your heart.”  Whether or not you know your passion, I think it is a quote that anyone who is trying to glean the treasures from the trash during their college search, their college experience, and then the post-college years can understand.

–Alivia Ashenfarb will be starting her sophomore year at Boston University this fall.

Not long ago, a friend of mine posted a picture to his Facebook account of a beautiful sunset at the beach. The sky was a pastel-colored work of art hovering over the Pacific Ocean. And in the foreground: a kid on his iPhone, paying this wonder of nature absolutely no attention whatsoever. Caption: Smartphones have ruined the world.

Perhaps they have. Remember when people weren’t glued to their phones 24/7 the way they are now? Remember a day when you had to ask people real questions to get information instead of just popping open a mobile browser window? Remember when all you needed was a RAZR to be happy?

Yeah, me neither. That was way too long ago at this point. Smartphones are the way business gets done these days, and the way social lives flourish. Is that a bad thing? Maybe. There are certainly downsides that come with every change. But there are also must be a lot of good things — or else people wouldn’t bother paying so much money for these things!

Think back to the image of a kid missing out on a gorgeous sunset to focus on his phone. What is he doing? Perhaps he is texting his buddies about how bored he is. Or maybe he is doing something worthwhile (like studying for the PSAT, SAT, or ACT with one of our $10 flashcard apps for the iOS).

I’m not saying it would feel much better to miss out on a beach sunset for studying than for texting your friends. Likely, it wouldn’t. But consider this: What opportunities are presented to you when you are suddenly able to carry your test prep materials with you everywhere you go? Is there anything new that you can do now that studying doesn’t mean “sitting at home, alone?”

Is it possible that the kid’s iPhone didn’t cause him to miss the sunset, but actually allowed him to witness it at all? Yes! Think about it… if he were studying “the old-fashioned way,” he would be at home, in his room, staring at textbooks and notebooks full of hand-written notes. Try lugging those to the beach and not regretting it, I dare you.

Instead, the world has become his classroom, just as the world has become the office for so many busy businesspeople. Is there a downside to being connected all the time; to feeling the pressure to be productive no matter where we are or what time it is? Of course. But that is the reality of our time.

If we don’t embrace the opportunities, then we get only the downsides from technology. So do yourself a favor: find some new things that owning a smartphone or a net-book (our flashcards are also available online) will allow you to do. Do your homework in a field, under a tree. Work on a group project over the phone while you take a hike. Stay up on class notes by downloading presentations and reviewing them on a road trip.

And yes, make a special excursion to the beach one day. You know, so you can study for the SAT.

John J. Walters is the director of marketing for TestSoup, a premier provider of online and mobile test prep solutions.

So you’ve gotten into college, but now you have to figure out where you want to live. Some colleges require freshmen to live on campus their first year, so that they can adapt to college life better. Some schools, however, let students choose where they want to live. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages economically. Take a look at some of the numbers:

Housing

• On-campus student housing tends to cost at least $5000 for the school year, but colleges usually offer different types of housing facilities at varying levels of cost.
• The cost of living on-campus usually includes furniture, utility bills, and other fees that you might otherwise have to pay for when living off campus.
• Off-campus apartments or houses with four bedrooms usually cost $300-$500 a month, and leases generally last for a full year.
• When considering an apartment, remember that since the lease lasts 12 months, you are responsible for payments over the summer unless you find someone to sublease from you or you stay in town for the summer.
• Also, factor in that apartments do not always come fully furnished, may not include a washer and a dryer, and rent may not include the cost of utilities.
• Some landlords love renting to students, others don’t. You will run into a mixture of both during your apartment search.

Food
• Campus meal plans generally cost around $5000 for the academic year, but once again, the cost varies with different meal plan options.
• Some schools offer meal plan options designed for students who live off-campus.
• Even if you are on meal plan, you will still spend money on snacks for your room and eating out at restaurants with friends when you get tired of cafeteria food.
• Most campus living facilities include kitchens, which can be a more affordable way to cook, but you need to consider where you will store your food and cooking supplies.
• To cut down on food costs, you and your roommates can take turns cooking dinner, and you can bring your lunch to campus instead of buying food there.
• If you’re not on meal plan, plan on your food budget being around $100-$200 a month.

Transportation
• If you’re living on campus, consider whether or not you’re going to bring your car, and where you can park and how much it will cost.
• If you live off campus, look into bus routes that run by your apartment or house.
• If you plan on driving to campus, factor in the cost of gas and how much a parking space on or close to campus will cost. Many places near campus will offer parking at a lower cost, you just need to ask first.

Of course, depending on the town or city in which you will be attending school, there will be other more specific questions to ask during your search for off-campus housing. But this list is definitely a good place to start. Happy hunting!

Delaney Young is a senior magazine journalism major at The University of Georgia.