NAFSA: Association of International Educators announced today the winners of the 2010 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization. Senator Simon was a strong supporter of international education and foreign language study, and the colleges that win the award all show impressive efforts at preparing students to succeed in a global economy and interconnected world.

The five schools being recognized in 2010 for their overall efforts at internationalization are

• Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania
• Hobart & William Smith Colleges in New York
• Loyola University Maryland
• Northeastern University in Massachusetts
• University of San Francisco in California

"The Choice," the college admissions column at the New York Times, recently ran an article on Hamilton College's decision to move to "need-blind" admissions. Hamilton, in other words, will no longer consider a student's ability to pay as part of the admissions decision. The college will cover the added financial aid costs associated with "need-blind" admissions through a gift from trustees and a fund-raising campaign. A representative from the college noted that the college will continue to meet the full demonstrated need of every admitted student.

I imagine most of us would agree that this is a move in a positive direction. After all, should a student's financial situation prevent him or her from attending a good college? And doesn't the privileging of wealth go against the educational ideals of most colleges?

"Need-aware" admissions, however, can sometimes be more humane than "need-blind." All colleges have finite financial aid resources. If a college with "need-blind" admissions runs out of financial aid dollars before meeting students' financial needs, the results can be ugly. Students and their families may find themselves in a position where they have to take on an unreasonable and unwise amount of debt to pay for college. Many "need-aware" schools will argue that it is a better policy to meet the financial needs of all incoming students than to provide financial aid packages that fall far short of what students can realistically pay.

Share your thoughts on this controversial issue below. Should all colleges have "need-blind" admissions, or only those like Hamilton that can afford to meet the financial needs of all accepted students?

Despite the state's current economic crisis, California has some of the best colleges and universities in the country. Several members of the University of California system made my list of the country's top public universities, and members of the Claremont Colleges appear in my top picks for undergraduate engineering schools, women's colleges and liberal arts colleges.

In this new list, you'll find my 12 top picks for California. The list includes big, small, public and private colleges and universities.

Are there other schools you think should be on the list? Share your recommendations below.

If you haven't heard of Randolph College, that's probably because up until 2007 it was called Randolph-Macon Woman's College. This small liberal arts college in Lynchburg, Virginia, recently became coeducational, and in the process the school changed its name. The student body is now about 20% men.

Randolph College's small size (under 600 students), 8 to 1 student / faculty ratio and average class size of 12 mean that students get lots of personal attention. The school prides itself on the high scores it earned on the National Survey of Student Engagement.

For such a small college, Randolph offers an impressive 50 majors and minors, and students also have the option of designing their own degree program. The college's strengths in the liberal arts and sciences earned it a chapter of the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. Students at Randolph are highly involved in athletics, clubs and other outdoor activities. The attractive campus with its red-brick buildings is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

To learn more about the Randolph College and the school's admissions standards, visit the Randolph Admissions Profile and the college's official website. If you have visited or attended Randolph College, please share your impressions below.

Every week I spotlight a great college that might be off the radar of college applicants. If there's a college you'd like to see featured here, please post your recommendation in the College Admissions Forum.