Kalman Chany - Paying for College, 2019 Edition: Everything You Need to Maximize Financial Aid and Afford College

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The college application process has been described as the closest thing America has to a savage puberty rite. In fact, entire books have been written about the traumatic effect the application process has on students. Much less attention has been paid to another group of unsung heroes who are going through a similar ordeal all their own: the parents who are supposed to pay for all this.

The cost of a four-year private college education has passed the $250,000 mark at some schools, which is enough to cause even the most affluent parent to want to sit down and cry. The public Iviesstate schools with excellent reputationshave been raising their tuition even faster than the privates. This year, an out-of-state student will have to pay more than $61,000 to attend the University of Michigan for one year.

Meanwhile, stagnating university endowments caused by the stock market slump along with cuts to the education budgets of state governments have combined to create a crisis in higher education. Some colleges have had to slash their budgets, lay off professors, even consolidate with other schools. And even when you factor in the new educational tax benefits, the financial aid available per student has shrunk as rising tuition has forced more and more parents to apply for assistance.

If there is a bright side to all this it is that in spite of all the bad news, there is still a great deal of financial aid availableand we are talking billions of dollars. At these prices, almost every family now qualifies for some form of assistance. Many parents dont believe that a family that makes over $150,000 a year, owns their own home, and holds substantial assets could possibly receive financial aid. These days, that familyprovided it is presented in the right lightalmost certainly does. Many parents who make $50,000, rent their home, and have no assets, dont believe they can afford to send their child to any type of college at all. They almost certainly canin fact, they may find to their surprise that with the financial aid package some schools can put together for them, it may cost less to attend an expensive private school than it would to go to a cheap state school.