Paying For College For Dummies. Eric Tyson

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Introduction

      Welcome to Paying for College For Dummies! I know this may be a stressful and challenging topic. But, not to worry! You’ve come to the right place — this book will help you to lower your anxiety, increase your knowledge, and take control of the process.

      In this book, I emphasize these important topics:

       Making the most of your finances and developing your children’s potential without breaking the bank.

       Getting the best education at an affordable price. Spending more doesn’t equate to getting a better education or better employment prospects. You should look for value — meaning seek out service providers that deliver quality at a reasonable, or in some cases even an attractive, price.

       Understanding proven alternatives to traditional and costly college education. Increasingly, high-cost, four-year colleges are seeing their enrollment squeezed while far lower cost and faster alternatives to college are seeing enrollment growth.

       Navigating and making best use of financial aid. After baring your financial soul to colleges, they will tell you how much they will charge you. They aren’t actually giving you money when they award aid so much as they charge different customers widely differing prices based upon the college’s assessment of your ability to pay. I help steer you through understanding the various ways to get better pricing as well as filling out all those forms.

About This Book

      College price increases, for too many years and decades, outstripped the general rate of inflation. While particular degrees from leading schools do still seem to provide a ticket to some well-paying jobs and careers, now more than ever families are questioning the value of a college degree. A recent Wall Street Journal poll found that 47 percent of Americans no longer believe that having a college degree will lead to a good job and higher lifetime earnings. Among Millennials, only 39 percent continue to believe in college.

Paying For College For Dummies helps you to sort through the range of post-high school options, including attending a traditional four-year college. If you think buying a car or a home was complicated, just wait until you begin to understand the intricacies of how colleges set their prices. Colleges charge each of their customers different prices based upon their own (hidden) analysis of your supposed ability to pay. I will explain how various colleges determine what to charge you and how you can best complete college financial aid forms and position your finances to receive more favorable pricing.

      As a former financial counselor, I have counseled thousands of clients on a variety of personal finance, investment,