1. Oglethorpe University – Atlanta, GA: Oglethorpe was close to losing its academic accreditation in 2007, but had turned the bad to good by 2009 at the end of their academic review. In fact, by the end of the review period, enrollment was at an all time high.
2. Chancellor University (formerly Myers University): Myers University in Cleveland, Ohio was facing bankruptcy just a few years ago. After being bought out by Chancellor University Systems, including a $2 million influx of cash from former GE CEO Jack Welch, the school is turning around. It has already been removed from probationary status. The university’s business school is now named for Welch, and he was actively involved in staffing and creating the school.
3. Grand Canyon University: Grand Canyon was a non-profit Christian school that was struggling financially before Bridgepoint systems took them over in 1993. Now the school is doing well financially, and is one of the leading universities in the country for online degrees. Grand Canyon is one of several examples of financially failing religious schools that were turned around, in part by becoming “for profit” schools, and, in part by concentrating in offering online degrees.
4. Ashford University: Ashford, in Clinton, Iowa is another example of Bridgepoint Education’s abilities to turn a religious school around. Once in financial ruin, the school is now a successful, for profit school specializing in online degrees.
5. University of the Rockies: Bridgepoint Education has also turned around University of the Rockies, transforming it into one of the most successful colleges specializing in online degrees.
6. Thames Valley University, London: Thames Valley was also facing bankruptcy. But, its recent merger with Reading University has helped turn the college around financially. Money is still tight, but the school is definitely making a comeback.
7. Harvard: Back in 2009, even Harvard was suffering financially. Essentially, Harvard had an endowment fund that was pretty severely mismanaged. And though times are leaner at the Ivy League School than in years past, they’ve made a pretty significant turnaround in the last year and a half.
8. Regis College, Boston: Regis was a women’s college in Boston that had financial woes, and faced declining enrollment and buildings in need of repair. By making strategic budget cuts, and beginning to admit male students, they turned their crisis around. Regis’ President declared a “financial state of emergency” and turned around bad spending practices.
9. Florida A&M: Florida A&M presented a serious challenge to their new President when he arrived. James Ammons took over his alma mater while the university was on probation and facing loss of accreditation. A review of the school’s finances also showed that there were many accounting irregularities. Lawmakers were even calling for a criminal investigation. But, by building a collaborative transition team, Florida A&M has made significant strides toward recovery. They regained full accreditation just over a year after Ammons took over.
10. Tuskegee University: Tuskegee University in Alabama, one of America’s longest standing and most successful black colleges lost accreditation for its architecture program, one of the school’s largest and most successful programs, in 2006. The problems that caused the loss of accreditation were a combination of a shortage of physical resources, financial resources and because the program was spread out among several locations. One of the firs steps the school took toward repairing their problems was consolidating the architecture program to one location. By 2009, they had regained the accreditation for the program.

The economy of the past few years has been hard on many types of businesses, but probably none more so that educational institutions. Lack of donations and government endowment cuts, along with more students needing financial aid, has really taken a toll on the higher education industry. But, as these examples illustrate, with the right leaders, and the right financial and business changes, universities can overcome the obstacles their facing to bounce back to being thriving institutions.

You want to make sure that you are getting the best value for your degree, and you want to make sure that you can get into the school and program that you prefer. You can accomplish this with a little advice from people who have been there before. There are a number of college admissions blogs that can help you learn more about the process — and help you get into the school you are looking for. Here are 50 college admissions blogs that can be of great help to you:

College Ranking Blogs

First of all, start your search with some good college ranking blogs. Learn more about what is expected of you to get into the best schools, and learn which programs are likely to help you excel. Once you have that figured out, you can begin learning more about getting into these schools.

1. U.S. News & World Report: You expect this ranking site to be included, and you won’t be disappointed. Learn more about the best colleges in the country.
2. The Princeton Review: Find out more about different college options and rankings, and the specs required to get into different colleges.
3. Forbes.com America’s Best Colleges: Great rankings of different colleges and universities in the U.S. Includes a number of different viewpoints.
4. The Center for College Affordability & Productivity: A great place to turn for different college rankings, and for help finding a good deal in higher education.
5. What Will They Learn?: A unique guide to college rankings, helping you figure out the best programs.
6. myUsearch Blog: Find out more about college rankings, and what it takes to get into different universities.
7. GetEducated.com: You can learn about online programs, which can be very helpful in many situations.
8. RateMyCollege: This helpful ranking tool from College Times can help you learn about schools from the students who attend.

Admission Counselors and Coaches Blogs

Some of the best people to learn from are those who have first hand knowledge and expertise about getting into college. Admissions counselors and coaches provide expert advice to students looking to get into college, and often have contacts that provide unique, insider insight. Reading these blogs can help you get into the school of your choice.

9. The Admission Game: Keep up with the latest news in college admissions and college planning.
10. The Ivy Coach: If you are interested in getting into an Ivy League school, this blog is a must-read.
11. Admitted Blog: The National Association for College Admission Counseling runs this blog, which is full useful and helpful information on getting into college.
12. The Choice: A great offering from The New York Times about getting into college.
13. CollegeBound: Admissions advisers share information about getting into college.
14. College Admissions: Allen, at About.com, can help you learn about getting into the college that you want.
15. College Admission Blog: Get help and information about getting into college, and what comes next.
16. College Admissions Counseling: Latest news, tips and more on college applications and getting accepted.

Administration Blogs

Get advice straight from the horse’s mouth. Many college administration blogs feature insights into getting into school, as well as deadlines and tips that can help you ensure that you are on the right track. Read these administration blogs, and you might find some very useful information about getting into college — especially if you are focusing on a specific school.

17. One Dean’s View: Information about college, including information about getting.
18. Dean Dan Bernardo’s Blog: Learn more about how things work at a university. A great resource for the ins and outs of college administration.
19. Dean Manderscheid’s Blog: A helpful look at what’s happening at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
20. The World View: Administration experts at Inside Higher Ed offer information about administration, college and more.
21. Postdoc Administrator Blog: Learn more about postdocs and administration from this Stanford blog.
22. Prez Ed’s Blog: A great administration blog from Bethany College.
23. Confessions of a Community College Dean: Great insight into getting into community college.

Testing Blogs

Get information about the testing that you have to undergo before being accepted into college. Helpful blogs about test taking and more.

24. Test Prep Success: Learn more about prepping for college admissions tests.
25. The ACT Student Blog: Helpful look at testing, and at getting into school.
26. Top Test Prep: A great blog with info on the SAT and ACT, as well as MCAT, LSAT and other tests.
27. Prepped & Polished: Helpful advice on taking college tests.
28. GRE Blog: A great resource for those studying for the GRE from Kaplan.
29. Test Prep: Peterson’s offers helpful information and advice on college prep test taking.

Student Advice Blogs

If you are looking for straightforward and honest advice from people who are living the process (or recently made it through the process), students and former students can be a wealth of knowledge. These blogs offer great college admissions help, fresh from the trenches. A great way to get firsthand information.

30. College Confidential: Get real life information on college and getting in from students.
31. Making it Count!: Information on school, and being the type of student who gets into college.
32. CampusCompare: Student based information on different colleges.
33. My College Options: Information and resources about getting into college.
34. Find College Cards: Information and more on getting into college — and surviving while there.
35. The Uncommon Blog: Students and others share helpful advice.
36. AdmissionHook: Tips on writing good college admissions essays.

Graduate School Admissions Blogs

Find help and advice if you are looking to take the next step. Graduate student admissions can be more difficult — and different — from undergraduate admissions. These blogs can help you learn how to navigate the more complex process associated with getting into grad school.

37. PhDs.org: Offers a great look at getting into grad school.
38. Graduate School: A great offering from Tara, the About.com guide.
39. GradSchoolForum: Helpful posts on getting into graduate school.
40. Clear Admit: Advice on getting into a MBA program.
41. Adam Markus: This grad school admissions guru can help you get in.
42. So You Want to Go to Grad School?: Great community info on getting into graduate school.
43. Law School Expert: Help getting into law school.

Financial Aid and Scholarship Blogs

Finally, you need to know how to get help paying for your schooling. Part of college admissions is being able to pay the bill. These blogs can help you find ways to get the financial aid you need to help you make your tuition payments — and maybe even find out how to get your schooling completely paid for by someone else.

44. FAFSA Blog: THE place to go to start looking for info on financial aid.
45. Admissions and Financial Aid Blog: Helpful hints on getting in and paying for school.
46. Planning and Preparing for College: Get ready for college — and for paying for it.
47. Scholarships.com Blog: Great information and news on scholarships.
48. Paying for College: Find out what you can do to pay for university.
49. College Athletic Scholarships: Helpful hints on using your skills to pay for college.
50. Go Financial Aid Blog: More helpful information on different types of financial aid.

1. Economics of Education: This course from MIT focuses on the economic aspects of education, including the growing impact on education and future earnings.
2. Introduction to Education: Understanding and Evaluating Education: This class from MIT explores issues in America’s schools.
3. Educational Theory and Practice: This course from MIT covers educational reform, student behavior and motivation, curriculum design and the teaching profession. It is designed for those who plan to go into classroom teaching.
4. Media, Education and the Marketplace: This course from MIT focuses on how media is used in education and influences it.
5. Computer Games and Simulations for Investigation and Education: This course from MIT explores how we learn from computer games and their place in today’s education system.
6. Teaching College Level Science: This course from MIT explores the knowledge and skills required for teaching science and engineering at the college level.
7. Educational Software: This course from Delft University of Technology explores the role of software in the classroom as well as the teaching principles employed when using software for teaching.
8. Learning Seminar: Experiments in Education: This course from MIT explores how learning should happen and under what contexts it is allowed to happen.
9. Entertainment Education for Behavior Change: This course from Johns Hopkins explores the ways in which education can be subtly injected into entertainment for the purposes of teaching.
10. Multicultural Education and ESL Education: English as a Second Language courses have truly changed the way America’s schools teach, as has the multi-cultural atmosphere of today’s schools. This course from Dixie State College of Utah explores the theoretical and foundational underpinnings of multi-cultural education and ESL in order to help teachers be better equipped to accomodate diversity in their classrooms.
11. Introduction to Teaching and Learning Mathematics and Science: This course from MIT provides an introduction to teaching and learning in American K-12 classrooms.
12. Research for the Classroom Teacher: This course from Utah State looks at research as used by teachers for preparing classroom lessons.
13. Instructional Games: This course from Utah State University explores the role of instructional games in the classroom.
14. Introduction to Open Education: This course from Utah State University introduces students to the current state of the field of open education.
15. Computer Applications for Instruction and Training: An introduction to basic computer applications on the MAC, with a focus on how these applications would be used in the classroom. This course is offered by Utah State University.
16. Play, Learning and the Brain: This course from the Open University examines how the brain uses play for learning. It’s a great course for early childhood teachers and for parents.
17. Educational Policy Analysis and Research in Comparative Perspective: This course, offered by Harvard, focuses on how policy leaders can help improve education in the US and around the world.

Education in America is a very broad subject, and there is a wide range of subjects that those interested in education might want to explore, depending upon whether your primary interest lies in public education, higher education or just gaining a better understanding of how educational systems work in the US and throughout the world.

As your focus narrows, you no doubt will find that there are more focused resources you can used to expand your knowledge. However, this set of open courseware classes can offer you a wide range of knowledge about education in the US at several different levels and from several different perspectives.

1.  Business Scholarships: Everyone knows about scholarships, however a place many don’t look is the business community.  These scholarships are usually restricted to a geographic region and feature a limited pool of eligible applicants, good odds for success and free cash for school.

2.  Employer assistance:  Check with your company for assistance, most students never think that their company will provide assistance towards a degree—especially if they work for a smaller company.  But you might be surprised.

3.  Federal Grants:  The US Government doesn’t just give out loans, it also gives away free cash for college to those that qualify.  Families who earn under $50,000 usually qualify for a Pell grant, which is currently $5,500.

4.  Unemployment assistance: Government assistance for the unemployed who seek to gain further education include workforce development classes, tuition waivers, and loan forgiveness.

5.  National Service Programs: Students are aware of college assistance from the military, but they probably are unaware of the free college opportunity with AmeriCorps, Teach for America, and the Peace Corps.

6.  Work for the US Government:  Recent college grads can receive up to $60,000 in loan forgiveness in exchange for government service.

7.  Attend a tuition-free college: These institutions guarantee to cover the entire tuition of its students.  The focus on specialized education and have unique situations that allow them to not charge tuition.

When you put a toe in the social media eddy, you get sucked into it and before you know it you’re an expert on the mating rituals of the bonobo…but hey, aren’t you planning to major in sports management?

But here we are and there we go…to come up with a list of twitter users which we believe will help college students of all hues, heights, and majoring subjects broaden their horizons, add to the sum of their knowledge, make their world and our world a more peaceful place, and our collective tomorrows safer.

1. Breaking News – Keep tabs on breaking news as it breaks from all corners of the world. If you’re going to make a difference to the world tomorrow, you’d better be tuned in to what’s happening today and this Twitter page of MSNBC does a good job of keeping you updated. Follow them and you will find news and views that expand your horizons and help you build an opinion on the facts of life to embrace, stuff to avoid, and things that will endure whether we like it or not.

2. World Economic Forum – For the economists of tomorrow and also the regular guys destined to be caught in a never-ending cycle of EMIs – the tweets here are of consequence to all of us, the denizens of the global village where the education initiative in India can affect the job market in America. Food for thought for all and a potential career-shaper for many.

3. Lance Armstrong – Everyone needs heroes and impressionable college goers that find assignments, moonlighting, tuition funds, parent’s divorce and their 52nd breakup of the year to be just too burdensome could do well to take a leaf from Armstrong’s life. The guy has won the Tour de France a record seven number of times and then the small matter of beating testicular cancer. His tweets offer rare insight into the life of one of the greatest champs of all time, bar none.

4. BBC Click – The tweets on this page are from a venerable news and broadcasting institution from the other side of the pond. BBC is the largest broadcaster in the world and a huge institution, even though it would be very interesting to see the results of a poll on how many American college guys actually know what BBC stands for. Anyway, the tweets are from the company’s flagship technology program which covers tech news from around the world in the unique understated manner of the Brits. Given that there is no escaping technology, the tweets here are a nice way to keep abreast of what’s new in the world of technology.

5. Guy Kawasaki – The guy, in my opinion is the ultimate dilettante, skimming on the surface of one subject and then another, sipping the information here and savoring the facts there. All along he shares his discoveries with us through his tweets. Guy is counted as one of the bigger social media movers and shakers out there. And the frequency of his tweets tells you a thing or two about how he prizes connectivity. He’s got over 200K followers for a reason. His tweets inform and make us aware of a zillion things; a nice place to be for all and particularly so for the trivia hunter.

6. Barack Obama – All college students should make it a point to periodically visit the Twitter page of the 44th president of the U.S.A. Why? So that you can take a call for yourself about where the country’s headed and decide whether you’re a libertarian, free market capitalist, socialist, or a beach bum. Obama’s appointment as president has been a watershed event in the history of America and the tweets on his page tell us about where he’s taking the country.

7. LIFE.com – They say a picture is worth a thousand words and no magazine out there encompasses this better than LIFE, as it has done since the time our dads were in college. Not for nothing do they have more than 1.2 million followers. A must-follow for every student that wishes for perspective on issues – to get an idea of a world gone by, a time passing us by, and a time to come. Beautiful is the operative word here.