With back-to-school season upon us and a year of community college nearly three times less expensive than a year at a public four-year college, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2018’s Best & Worst Community Colleges, coupled with its state-by-state ranking of the Best & Worst Community-College Systems as well as accompanying videos.

To determine where students can receive the best education at the cheapest rates, WalletHub compared 715 community colleges across 17 key indicators of cost and quality. The data set ranges from the cost of in-state tuition and fees to student-faculty ratio to graduation rate. [Continue below]

Top 20 Community Colleges
1 Arkansas State University-Mountain Home (AR) 11 Lake Area Technical Institute (SD)
2 Stella and Charles Guttman Community College (NY) 12 Columbia Gorge Community College (OR)
3 State Technical College of Missouri (MO) 13 St Cloud Technical and Community College (MN)
4 Alexandria Technical & Community College (MN) 14 South Central College (MN)
5 Northland Community and Technical College (MN) 15 South Arkansas Community College (AR)
6 Minnesota State Community and Technical College (MN) 16 Madisonville Community College (KY)
7 Mitchell Technical Institute (SD) 17 North Arkansas College (AR)
8 Miles Community College (MT) 18 Ozarka College (AR)
9 Southern Arkansas University Tech (AR) 19 Lake Superior College (MN)
10 North Hennepin Community College (MN) 20 Manhattan Area Technical College (KS)
States with the Best Community-College Systems
1 South Dakota 11 Wisconsin
2 Minnesota 12 California
3 Montana 13 Wyoming
4 Arkansas 14 Colorado
5 New York 15 Hawaii
6 Kentucky 16 New Hampshire
7 North Dakota 17 Kansas
8 Tennessee 18 Nebraska
9 Oregon 19 New Mexico
10 Washington 20 Arizona

Read the full reports:
Individual Schools: https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-community-colleges/15076/

School Systems: https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-best-worst-community-college-systems/15073/

For the third consecutive year, LendEDU has completed our annual Student Loan Debt by School by State Report, a comprehensive analysis of student loan debt statistics for over 1,000 colleges and universities throughout the United States.

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Here’s a college essay writing tip for seniors completing the Common Application this fall. [Continue reading below]

Stop procrastinating and sign up NOW for my “Brainstorm Your College Essay” workshop on Wednesday, Aug. 22 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.

We’ll brainstorm topics together and I’ll guide you through the process. This is limited to just 6 high school seniors. You’ll leave with a topic, an opening paragraph and a promise that I’ll make suggested edits to your first draft, if submitted on time.

Register at collegeessayconfidante.com/workshops.

The workshop takes place in Westford. The location will be given to registrants.

In a new program developed jointly by the Mexican Foreign Ministry (Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores) and the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, Mexican diplomats are learning the foundations of American law from a U.S. law school in order to enhance consular services and strengthen binational relations.

Download photos from the signing ceremony. Click here for the Spanish-language news release.

More than 75 members of the Mexican diplomatic corps based in cities across the U.S. and in Mexico recently completed a rigorous online program about American law and policy. Courses were designed by UA law professors with extensive experience in their fields and with expertise in presenting the administrative and constitutional structures that support the rule of law.

“These courses were designed in the best interest of U.S.-Mexico relations,” said UA College of Law Dean Marc L. Miller. “We leveraged our expertise with the needs of their diplomatic mission and forged a partnership beneficial to both nations.”

The idea grew out of conversations between Miller and Tucson Consul General Ricardo Pineda Albarrán, who has long served as a conduit for improving relations between Mexico and the U.S. Early discussions included Brent White, then associate dean of the College of Law, Ambassador Jacob Prado and Natalia Saltalamacchia, director of the ministry’s Diplomatic Academy (Instituto Matías Romero). Together they developed a program that addresses diplomats’ most common questions.

Pineda enrolled in the program, taking an overview of the U.S. legal system, immigration law and criminal procedure.

“The course as a whole is a very powerful resource of information to any person that, in their everyday work, has to analyze situations related to criminal law or immigration law in the U.S.” he said.

In addition to Pineda, the inaugural cohort includes professionals serving in 24 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, as well as in Mexico City and surrounding cities. Participants included the consul generals posted in New York City, Philadelphia, Detroit and Tucson, and four deputy consul generals from Caléxico, Fresno, Los Angeles and Miami. The cohort also includes members of the Embassy of Mexico in Washington, D.C. and partner offices throughout the U.S.

Each participant completing the program receives a certificate issued jointly from the UA and the Mexican Foreign Ministry. A ceremony with Mexican officials and representatives from the university will be held in Mexico City on Friday, Aug. 3.

“The University of Arizona has been a valuable strategic partner for the Diplomatic Academy. The quality of the program offered and its commitment to the training of our officers has been extraordinary,” Saltalamacchia said.

UA President Robert C. Robbins sees the law program as a critical part of a broader strategy.
“All of us benefit from a strong relationship between the U.S. and Mexico. Collaborative research and industry connect us in agriculture, mining, space, water resources, public health and many other areas,” Robbins said. “Legal education programs like this enhance our ability to develop those connections for our countries’ mutual benefit.”

Have you written your college essay yet? Here’s a chance to get it done, quickly, efficiently and with no pressure. We’ll brainstorm topics together and I’ll guide you through the process. Limited to just 6 high school seniors. You’ll leave with a topic, an opening paragraph and a promise that I’ll make suggested edits on your first draft, if submitted on time.

Register at collegeessayconfidante.com/workshops.

The workshop takes place on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Westford. The location will be given to registrants.

OBERLIN, OH, July 27, 2018 – Today’s college stores provide students with a variety of options to save money on textbooks and course materials. Savvy students know that campus stores offer competitive prices on course materials and many options, such as rentals, used or electronic textbooks, custom course materials, and more.

According to the soon-to-be-released Student Watch: Attitudes & Behaviors toward Course Materials 2017-2018 Report, last fall 78% of students that purchased one or more course materials did so at the campus bookstore. This percentage is nearly twice as high as any other retailer.

Here’s why:

• Nearly all campus stores offer used and rental textbooks as well as digital course content at prices that are comparable to online vendors. These options are often one-third to half the price of buying a new textbook.
• Moreover, some stores offer price matching, price guarantees, rebates, discounts for early reservations, free in-store pickup for online orders, and buy-now, pay-later options. Options students won’t get with online vendors.
• Campus stores work with faculty to develop custom content—such as special editions with only the assigned chapters—so that students pay for only the information they need to succeed academically.
• More than 350 campus stores across the U.S. and Canada offer price-comparison apps or online software to help students make wise buying choices. These tools compare the store’s prices on course materials (new, used and rentals) to those of a variety of online sellers.
• Most stores have flexible return policies that mirror campus deadlines. Students avoid any hidden shipping and handling fees and the inconvenience of having to ship materials back to multiple online sellers (and remember where they got each item).
• Immediate access to course materials for last-minute shoppers. Some online sources can take up to three weeks to deliver.

About The National Association of College Stores

The National Association of College Stores (NACS), headquartered in Oberlin, Ohio, is the professional trade association of the $10 billion campus store industry. NACS provides education and other resources that help its member stores support student success, the campus experience, and the academic missions of higher education institutions. The association represents all campus stores, which include nearly 4,000 campuses in the U.S. and Canada, and approximately 1,000 industry-related companies that supply course materials and other merchandise and services to campus stores.

THERE ARE SEVEN PROMPTS PROVIDED BY THE COMMON APPLICATION.

Prompt #7 examined

Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one
you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt,
or one of your own design. 

If you’ve already written an essay of which you are proud, dust
it off and take another look. Does it tell an admissions officer
something important about you? If not, start over. Don’t take a
shortcut just to avoid the investment of time. Your college
essay can be the deciding factor in being admitted to the
college of your choice.

Put the time into it so you know you’ve
tried your hardest to make your dream come true.

THERE ARE SEVEN PROMPTS PROVIDED BY THE COMMON APPLICATION.  

Prompt #6 Examined

Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that
it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate
you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn
more?

One of the most pleasurable experiences in my life is getting
lost in a writing project that wholly captivates me. Do you have
a hobby, sport, or pastime that does this for you? If so, try
writing about it by telling how you got involved and how you
deepened your knowledge. When I sit at a computer to write a
story, it feels like I’m flying a plane. I can only imagine that the
real experience of flying is just as engaging. Whatever your
practice is, find a way to make the reader experience what you
feel and you could have a compelling story.

Almost 50 Chelmsford residents attended the College Essay Confidante’s college prep night on June 28. “Applying for College, What you Need to Know,” was presented by three college admissions professionals. They were: Jennifer Legg Gabel, Guidance Counselor at Acton-Boxborough High School, Julie Shields-Rutyna, Director of College Planning, Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, Andrew Carter, Senior Associate Director, Office of Admissions, College of the Holy Cross, and Joyce Pellino Crane, the College Essay Confidantè, who moderated.

Joyce Pellino Crane is the College Essay Confidante. She can be reached at winningcollegeessay@gmail.com.

Prompt #5 examined

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. [Revised]

Have you traveled to a foreign country and seen something that inspired you to get involved? One of my students took a trip to China to visit relatives. While there, the student noticed what she described as “incredible waste strewn throughout its streets.” She wondered where it could go besides a landfill. That trip motivated her to get involved in her own community by joining her school’s environmental club and raising money to fund the construction of composting bins.

The student’s experience with the club inspired her to aim for an environmental policy major in college. She deftly began her essay with advice from her grandmother who had told her to look at the green colors produced by nature as a way of improving her nearsightedness. She ended her essay with this line: “My grandmother was right: by looking at the green, I found my life vision.”