‘Tis the season…to be worried. As the New Year approaches, college-bound students nervously await admissions decisions, while parents (and some students) begin to come to terms with the financial realities of pursuing a higher education. In most cases, acceptance letters eventually roll in, but all too often, the money does not.  Tuition rates have more than quadrupled over the past 20 years, and an increasing number of families, many of whom have taken a hit during the current financial crisis, are no longer able to fully afford the cost of college. Fortunately, there’s money to be won. Despite the current economic downtown, college and government coffers remain deep. Financial aid is available—and abounding—provided you know where to look and what to look for.

Finding the right (financial) fit…

The college search process should be as much about finding the right price as it is about finding the right academic program or campus environment.  While you may never know the exact dollar amount a particular school will ultimately award to you, there are ways to accurately estimate the kind of financial aid package you will receive.  Last year, Congress passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which mandated that all postsecondary institutions in the United States post a net price calculator on their websites by October 2011. Most institutions have already posted such calculators, which enable prospective students to determine their estimated out-of-pocket college costs at a particular school, and in some instances, their estimated financial aid award.  Please click the link below for an example, courtesy of MIT:

http://web.mit.edu/sfs/afford/financial_aid_calculator.html

In addition to utilizing net price calculators, prospective students and their families should also peruse college guidebooks and websites (i.e. www.collegeportraits.org, www.ucan-network.org) in order to locate college-specific, financial aid data showing (1) a particular school’s average financial aid package; (2) it’s average grant/scholarship award; (3) the average educational indebtedness of a school’s graduates; and (4) whether or not a particular school meets the full demonstrated need of its students.  Reviewing such data is essential if you wish to discover the colleges that are willing and able to subsidize your education.

Finally, while most financial aid is awarded according to need, millions of dollars are given out annually to students who possess “desirable” academic and extracurricular credentials.  Students who wish to maximize their financial aid should locate good-fit institutions where their high school profile is above that of the average incoming student.  In today’s ultracompetitive higher education market, colleges are always looking to increase the quality of their student bodies, which in turn, increases their rankings, their prestige, and ultimately, their revenue.  If you possess a GPA, standardized test score, and/or special talent that distinguishes you from other applicants in a particular school’s admissions pool, you may qualify for merit-based aid, a form of non-need-based aid (i.e. you don’t have to demonstrate financial need in order to qualify) that a college uses to entice applicants it perceives as attractive. Generous distributors of merit-based financial aid include excellent institutions like Tulane University, Catholic University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Occidental College, the College of Wooster, and Hendrix College, among many others.

With every New Year, comes new resolve…

Yes, the New Year is a time of high anxiety for college-bound students and their families, but it’s also a time for resolutions.  If you resolve to finding an affordable college and developing a sound financial aid strategy, this New Year could very well prove to be your most rewarding one yet.