elite colleges

Faced with grueling competition to get into the country's elite colleges, applicants may find that family connections play a much bigger role that was previously thought.

For years now, private college tuition has risen far faster than inflation, a fact that colleges have used a fancy theory called Baumol's Law to explain away. Unfortunately for families who pay over $200,000 to send a child to one of those schools, the comparative value of the education rarely justifies the higher price.

As a new wave of high school students enter the college admissions horse race, here's a bit of advice for their parents: Stop looking at your kid and worrying about why he doesn't seem interested in getting into a top school. Instead, look in the mirror and worry about why you do care so much.

Job insecurity and tanking retirement portfolios and 529 Plans have some families rethinking their college applications strategies.Bloomberg reports that applications are down at seven of the eight highest-rated liberal arts colleges in the country. Williams College was the hardest hit with an...