ACCEPTED - BUT NOT JUST YET

Some students opened the fat envelope this spring to find an acceptance letter with a twist-delay your enrollment for a semester or a year. This can be a good option for students who really want to wait for the college of their dreams, but the delayed offer can create other problems.

If the student is allowed to enroll in an alternate four-year college in the interim, ethically that should be conveyed to the current college since the student's one-year enrollment would be categorized as non-matriculating. This "temporary" student status, however, often negates scholarship offers.

Moreover, it makes it difficult to bond with fellow students and faculty knowing that you won't be around for long, both of which dramatically changes the experience on campus and can make for a very long year.

Carefully read all offers of admission to be sure that you do not violate a double deposit policy as you accept a deferred offer while still enrolling at a second college, as each college approaches this type of admission offer in a different way:

Admission to College with a Catch.

WHY YOU WERE REJECTED

It is hard to receive a denial of admission to college and students often desperately try to figure out what they might have done to be admitted.

A recent New York Times "Room For Debate" online Op-Ed collected some interesting views about the dramatically low acceptance rates at The Ivies and other highly visible colleges and what the numbers really mean.

RAPID GROWTH OF FOR PROFIT COLLEGES RESULTS IN HIGH DROP-OUT RATES AND LOAN DEFAULTS

The Education Department is now imposing stringent new conditions on the federal student loans that have become the lifeblood of for-profit schools, like Kaplan. Heavy lobbying keeps pushing back the release date of one especially controversial proposal, but other regulations are already biting: As many traditional colleges mailed acceptances in April and chose from among record numbers of applicants, Kaplan's new enrollments, by contrast, have plunged by nearly half.

"We're trying to walk a fine line to make sure the good actors are supported and bad actors can't take advantage of people trying to better their lives," Education Secretary Arne Duncan told department employees, according to a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education. "We are very, very close."

The Washington Post recent article on this issue provided a candid view of Kaplan Higher Education, which is a division of The Post Co., and now calls itself "an education and media company."

NOTABLE CTCL ALUMNI NOW FEATURED AT CTCL.ORG

Students (and their parents!) wonder what they might end up doing after attending one of the CTCL colleges. Now you can find out by clicking on the Notable Alumni page at CTCL.

Ever wondered where Ken Burns, Jennifer Nettles, Steve Carrell and other recognizable people attended college? You can check it out and find everyone from authors to astronauts and senators to scientists-and even a rock star or two-who got their liberal arts foundation at one of the 40 CTCL colleges.

CTCL 2011 PROGRAMS ANNOUNCED

The dates and locations for the 2011 CTCL national program series: "How to Choose a College That's Right For You" have been chosen and can be found on the Events link at ctcl.org.

In a shift from past years, the Midwest series will move from September to late August, starting in St. Paul, MN on Saturday, August 27 and will include a return to Kansas City, MO on August 31. The Mid-August/South Tour, starting on August 13 in Houston and Austin, TX, will include a return to Raleigh (Cary) NC on August 16. As always, all of the CTCL programs are free of charge and open to the public.

JOIN CTCL ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER

We hope you will follow CTCL on Twitter and Facebook for news and updated information on programs and events.