How to Pay for Your Degree

By Alcides Hoy Jr.

You've been waiting for this moment for nearly 18 years: Your baby is almost ready for college. Your finances, not so much. The market's protracted free fall means that your college fund is now worth just a fraction of what you need. Your home's value has no doubt dropped sharply too - no help there. The only thing that keeps going up, you guessed it, is college tuition. So it's goodbye, Dream School U., hello, Central State, right?

Wrong. While there's no denying times are tough, you have more options to help pay for that BA than you think. From targeting the right schools to taking advantage of new financial aid rules and tax breaks, you can get the price to a manageable level. These steps will ensure your kid ends up at a great school you can really afford.

1. Use your savings strategically

The typical 529 college savings plan of a high school junior or senior has dropped 12.5% in value over the past year. And if you didn't invest in an age-based portfolio that automatically shifted into safer investments as your child got older, your losses may be far worse. The big question before you: Should you try to hold off withdrawing money from the account to give your savings time to bounce back?

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Is College Worth The Cost

By: Alcides Hoy Jr.

Everybody when they hear the name of this post they ask Is This Writer Crazy? No Not at all. Sometimes we all think about the positives of college but we don't even realize if the money we invest is even worth it. Syracuse University next school year is going to be approximately 50,000 US dollars and at the year we have to ask ourselves are we getting the same education as a student in a 20,000 US dollar institution? Possibly. Everything financially seems to unbalanced when we look at how the salaries decrease but the price of college increases. In actually its as if we are paying for the name of school rather than the knowledge provided inside of those multimillion dollar buildings. In a recent chart produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you will see how college has increased drastically higher than living necessities such as medical and energy. At the end of the day we have to ask ourselves are we receiving in return what we pay for college?

http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/20/pf/college/college_price.moneymag/index.htm

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/oct/14/business/chi-college-costs-14-oct14

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/0327/039.html

College Costs Rising

By: Asim Mohammed

The total cost of going to a private 4-year college has risen to $34,132 on average for the 2008-09 academic year, while in-state public school students paid an average of $14,333 for the current school year.

The rise of going to school in today’s economic crisis, credit crunch, etc is rising drastically. With the economy slowing more, students will only see more tuition hikes, mainly in public schools as private schools will not be able to hike their costs because families will be more sensitive to price changes in a down economy. Private institutions may instead be forced to freeze hiring, delay building projects and make other cutbacks. Some families even after adjusting for financial aid the amount they pay for college has skyrocketed 439%.

There is some relief however with new stimulus plans for education. Families that qualify for financial aid, the news is doubly good. Pell Grants, awarded to students with high need, will climb to a maximum of $5,400 per year over the next five years. Also the interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans, also offered to families will drop to 3.4% over the next four years. Easing the burden for many families to try and pay for college and to pay back loans.

In the end with all the rising costs of college and the more aid coming in, there's no reason to overpay. Some people say go to a low cost school and save your money for graduate school.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/CutCollegeCosts/CollegeStudentsGetABreakOnCosts.aspx

http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/29/pf/college/college/index.htm?postversion=2008102917

http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/20/pf/college/college_price.moneymag/index.htm

Being Wealthy = Getting Accepted

By Kaitlin Lanier

As the recession wears on, potential college students are taking a beating when it comes to being accepted. However, it doesn’t hurt the student to have a few bucks in his wallet. Colleges and universities are providing much more financial aid to help families during the recession, so in turn they are accepting more wealthy students to offset the extra costs. Although schools have always somewhat considered a student’s financial needs during acceptance, the recession has changed that outlook since schools are now struggling to remain above water in the finance department.

This is bad news for a student that finds himself outside the wealthy category. These wealthy students are now supplied with an advantage, where not only are they more likely to be accepted, but they are also more likely to receive scholarships, taking them away from other students who are less fortunate. Although it was thought that colleges would try to increase tuition expenses, schools have basically decided to admit one student with financial need for each accepted student with no financial need whatsoever. So everyone, find a partner.

Sources:
As Wealthy Fill Top Colleges, Concerns Grow Over Fairness by David Leonhardt
For College Admissions, It Pays to Have Money by Peter Schworm
State Should Support All Students by The Triangle Editorial Board