Discover a concrete financial plan to finance a college education Financing a college education is a daunting task no matter what your circumstances. Bestselling author and personal finance expert, Eric Tyson offers tried and true strategic advice on how to understand loans, know your options, and how to improve your financial fitness while paying down your student loan debt. Armed with the checklists and timelines, you’ll be able to: Figure out what colleges actually cost Get to know the FAFSA® and CSS Profile(TM) Research scholarship opportunities Quickly compare financial aid offers from different schools Find creative ways to lighten your debt load Explore alternatives such as apprenticeships, online programs Paying for College For Dummies helps parents and independent students navigate everything from planning strategically as a married/separated/divorced/widowed parent, completing every question on the FAFSA and CSS PROFILE forms, understanding tax laws, and so much more. No other book offers this much practical guidance on choosing and paying or college.

In Financing a College Education, 15 prominent policy analysts and higher education specialists describe how student costs at U.S. postsecondary institutions are met, why and how student aid policy and practice have changed over the last few years, and what enhancements to current programs would make the system more equitable. The book's first part describes the massive and unwieldy--but vitally important--system of federal, state, private, and institutional financial aid for students. The second part discusses controversial student aid issues that are currently high on the national agenda; in particular, the shift away from ensuring access and toward making college more affordable for students from middle-class families.

How to determine whether or not a student might be eligible for federal, private, or college-oriented assistance, and if not, what to do next. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The financing of higher education is undergoing great change in many countries around the world. In recent years many countries are moving from a system where the costs of funding higher education are shouldered primarily by taxpayers, through government subsidies, to one where students pay a larger share of the costs. There are a number of factors driving these trends, including: A push for massification of higher education, in the recognition that additional revenue streams are required above and beyond those funds available from governments in order to achieve higher participation rates Macroeconomic factors, which lead to constraints on overall government revenues Political factors, which manifest in demands for funding of over services, thus restricting the funding available for higher (tertiary) education A concern that the returns to higher education accrue primarily to the individual, rather than to society, and thus students should bear more of the burden of paying for it This volume will help to contribute to an understanding of how these trends occur in various countries and regions around the world, and the impact they have on higher education institutions, students, and society as a whole. With contributions for the UK, USA, South Africa and China this vital new book gives a truly global picture of the rapidly changing situation

Whether your child is 18 months or 18 years of age, the time to start planning for college costs is now! No matter what your financial situation, or the amount of time you have to plan, there is a way to pay for college. With an extensive state-by-state listing of loan sources, as well as a complete breakdown of schools offering prepayment and special tuition-payment plans, co-op education programs, and R.O.T.C., Bright Ideas is required reading for college-bound students and their families.

This ambitious book grows out of the realization that a convergence of economic, demographic, and political forces in the early twenty-first century requires a fundamental reexamination of the financing of American higher education. The authors identify and address basic issues and trends that cut across the sectors of higher education, focusing on such questions as how much higher education the country needs for individual opportunity and for economic viability in the future; how responsibility for paying for it is currently allocated; and how financing higher education should be addressed in the future.

A college education has been the key to higher real wages and living standards. But as college enrollment has increased, so has the difficulty in paying for higher education.