Insider tips for the week of June 26, 2017

How to make sense of college rankings – An important read from the NY Times for every family engaging in the college process. My favorite takeaway: “It isn’t like Consumer Reports…the interaction between a student and an institution is not the same as the interaction between a student and a refrigerator.”

4 ways to spend one less semester in college and save: The average college grad takes an extra semester to graduate, which becomes an unplanned expense. Money magazine suggests some great ways to avoid that including choosing a college that has a track record of students finishing on time (some now even offer a guarantee), and testing your major early, since switching in junior or senior year will often mean a delay.

The scoop on athletic scholarships – Few areas of the college process have as much misinformation as athletic scholarships, and Lynn O’Shaugnessy does a nice job of dispelling myths and explaining how they actually work. A must-read for families who are considering college athletics at any level.

New change for federal student loan interest rates – College just got a little more expensive for those families taking out federal direct student loans. Interest rates for the 2017-18 school year were just announced, with the undergrad direct loan rate going up from 3.81% to 4.45% largely due to general market interest rates being higher.