College Guide: How to strategize your college search
We’re wrapping up our Essential Guide to College in New York newsletter course teaching families what they need to know about the college search.
Thank you for following along. We’ve learned what students should do to prepare for college, starting in ninth grade. We’ve gotten the lowdown on the SUNY schools, from "public Ivy" Binghamton University to flagships such as Stony Brook University and smaller honors colleges.
We’ve found out how Long Island families can avoid the financial aid "gap," what to know about the real odds of winning athletic scholarships and where to find other sources of college grants. We’ve dug into the question more families are asking these days: is a four-year degree even worth it? And we've come to understand the options, including less-expensive two-year degrees, highest-paying college majors and the schools that offer the highest return on investment and the best shot at paying off student loans quickly and easily.
We've got plenty more helpful information throughout Newsday's college guide, including in our NY college search tool, where you can compare acceptance rates, actual costs and admissions data from more than 150 colleges in New York.
For instance, a family searching for four-year colleges with average annual costs of less than $30,000 after financial aid would discover 75 options, from Adelphi University in Garden City to Paul Smith's College in the Adirondacks and The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in Manhattan. Looking for schools with engineering and related majors? You'll find 44 schools in New York. Know you want to attend a small school? We've got data on 68 of them.
SEND US YOUR QUESTIONS 💬
Now as the Essential Guide to College in New York course comes to an end, we hope you'll stay in touch. We’d love to hear your feedback and ideas for future aspects of navigating the college search. You can email us at collegeguide@newsday.com.
WHAT'S NEXT ✅
You'll be receiving Newsday’s The Classroom newsletter, which will keep you informed about education news, from preschool through K-12 and college. Please let us know what you think!
Maura McDermott covers education. Since joining Newsday in 2012, she also has worked on the investigations team and covered real estate and the business of health care.
