An August of Books About College—Debt, Athletics, and Getting In

On sale: August 3. The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe.

The author, Josh Mitchell, and I have been talking about this book since he started reporting it a few years ago and I had the chance to read the manuscript last spring. I compare this to The Big Short, the Michael Lewis book about the housing crisis. Much like that book, Mitchell, who is a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, traces the history of how student loans turned from a government program dreamed up in the Sputnik era to a spigot of easy money for undergrads, parents, and grad students that have allowed colleges to easily raise their tuition rates year after year.

On sale: August 3. Get Real and Get In: How to Get Into the College of Your Dreams by Being Your Authentic Self

I also had the opportunity to read this book in advance and it reminded me of all the students I met while reporting Who Gets In and Why. So many of those teenagers tried to guess at what colleges wanted instead of doing what made them happy in high school and presenting that authentic story in their application. Through exercises and stories from influential people, this book by Aviva Legatt, who worked at the University of Pennsylvania and is now an admissions consultant, helps students identify and achieve their longer term goals rather than just focus on jumping through another hoop in life—getting into the “right” college.

On sale: August 3. Valedictorians at the Gate: Standing Out, Getting In, and Staying Sane While Applying to College

The author, Becky Munsterer Sabky, is a former director of international admissions at Dartmouth College and provides anecdotes from her time on the inside with tips about making the most of the college search and application process.

On sale: August 10. The State Must Provide: Why America’s Colleges Have Always Been Unequal—and How to Set Them Right

When we talk about the history of segregation and integration in education, the focus is often on K-12 schools. Adam Harris, a writer at The Atlantic, examines the history of what happened when colleges were supposedly integrated last century and higher ed’s failed attempts at equality ever since. 

On sale: August 17. I Left My Homework in the Hamptons: What I Learned Teaching the Children of the One Percent

The author, Blythe Grossberg, is a full-time learning specialist who has also tutored students at New York City’s top private schools. This book is Grossberg’s tale of the 15 years of working with those families and their efforts to get into selective colleges.

On sale: August 27. Discredited: The UNC Scandal and College Athletics’ Amateur Ideal

I read the proof of this book in the spring before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the NCAA can’t bar modest payments to student-athletes. Now this book by Andy Thomason, an assistant managing editor at The Chronicle of Hgiher Education, is even more relevant. It examines through the eyes of four participants one of the biggest scandals in the history of college athletics: fake classes that were offered by UNC-Chapel Hill to athletes in order to keep them eligible to play. As I wrote in my blurb for the book, “even diehard fans of college sports will question their obsession after reading…this tale about the modern machinery that runs big-time athletics on campuses.”

On sale: September 28. The Truth about College Admission Workbook: A Family Organizer for Your College Search

I’ve long recommended the precusor to this workbook, The Truth about College Admission by Brennan Barnard, the director of college counseling at The Derryfield School, and Rick Clark, the director of undergraduate admission at Georgia Tech. I found the activities and exercises in this workbook incredibly useful to helping students and families go beyond the rankings to find colleges that are both a good fit and where they can get in.

The third in a series of surveys by New America and Third Way about how current and future college students think about higher ed and the changes brought on by the pandemic. The good news in the latest survey is that students believe the worst of the pandemic is over. This optimism about the pandemic, however, does not translate into increased positivity towards higher ed.

Relationships are the key to a successful job hunt for 20-somethings, according to this article in the Wall Street Journal. But no one really teaches students how to network. On LinkedIn, I shared some advice I give to college students about how to network. Please add any advice you might have.

Lured by the aura of degrees from top-flight institutions, many master’s students at universities across the U.S. took on debt beyond what their pay would support, an analysis of federal data on borrowers found.

Women students studying computer science weren’t getting hired for the critical summer internships that lead to jobs—so an enterprising organization decided to redesign the entryway.