If you are already attending college or are about to start in the fall, you no doubt realize just how expensive getting a higher education really is. Even if you choose a more frugal option such as attending your local community college and living at home with mom and dad, there are all sorts of little expenses that really pile up. The average cost of text books is $1,000 per year, for example. And college fees aren’t cheap either. One of the best ways to ensure that you graduate college without having to charge your way through is to apply for as many scholarships as possible. Whether you need an extra $2,000 or $20,000, the more scholarships you apply for, the better your chances of winning enough to cover your bills. Not sure where to find out about scholarships you might be qua...

There’s no doubt that college is costly — and getting more expensive every year. Even if you win top scholarships, take out some heavy duty student loans, and qualify for government grants, you will still probably need a bit of extra money to cover books, fees and living expenses. The best solution: Working your way through school. For some of you, working your way through school means landing a 40 hours+ summer job and using your salary to cover rent and pizza during the year. For others, covering your school expenses will require a lot more than just a summer job. You will need to work part-time or even full-time while going to college as well. If you find yourself in that boat, you should check out the growing number of companies offering tuition benefits to employees. Here ...

This story about creative financing for college ran over the weekend in my local paper. The article does a great job of outlining some of the financial challenges families are facing in the midst of this country’s economic crisis. It was good to see that staying in school is still a priority for the two families featured in the piece, but rather heart-wrenching to read the real life stats. For example, did you know that, across the board, the value of savings in 529 Plans has dropped 21% over the past year? And the market drop isn’t just hitting parents who were saving for their kids’ future. It is also hitting universities and their endowment plans, which are a major source of funding for university-based aid like scholarships and tuition reductions. The article cites ...

Financial aid award letters have been sent out, and now it’s time to figure out where you will be going to college next year. If you need some help decoding financial aid award letters, check out my post from Monday. Now, once you figure out exactly how much financial aid each school is offering you, you also need to calculate your real costs of attending each college. While cost may — or may not — be your #1 factor in picking a school, you will still want to know how much attending college will cost you next year. So, here’s what you need to do to calculate that figure: Take a look at your financial aid award letter. Most will state the total cost of attendance, including tuition, room, board and expenses. So your first step in calculating your total costs to att...

Welcome to Scholarship Friday. The weekend is finally here, but it’s not time to party quite yet. If you are currently enrolled in college — or planning to be next fall — now is the time to buckle down and get serious… about applying for scholarships. Given the state of the economy, I’m hard-pressed to imagine that there are too many students who can afford to say no to some free money to school. But that’s just what you’ll be doing if you fail to apply for scholarships. Not sure where to start? Each Friday, I make your search a little easier by posting three broad-appeal scholarships with upcoming deadlines. This week I have three essay-based scholarships: The No Population Growth Essay Contest, worth up to $2,000; the $1,000 Signet Classics Essay...

Welcome to the final part of the Financial Aid Finder’s five-part FAFSA Workshop. If you want to catch up on parts 1-4, follow these links: Essential FAFSA Documents FAFSA PIN Common FAFSA Blunders FAFSA Deadlines Well, we have arrived at the final installment of our FAFSA workshop. For some of you, this may no longer be relevant, since you had March 1st (or earlier) deadlines by which to complete your FAFSA. If you are still working on your application, however, you might find some good tips in today’s FAQs. A special thank you to everyone who sent me their questions. I hope that our answers today are able to help you, but if you are still confused, leave me a comment below so I can follow up with you. I am applying to three private schools and two state schools. How many FAF...

Welcome to part 4 of the Financial Aid Finder’s five-part FAFSA Workshop. If you want to catch up on parts 1-3, follow these links: Essential FAFSA Documents FAFSA PIN Common FAFSA Mistakes And remember that next week, I will be answering your FAFSA questions, so send ‘em in to me on email or leave me a comment with your queries. Today, I am focusing on FAFSA deadlines. You would think that with something like a deadline, this post would be pretty short. But the reality is, when it comes to the FAFSA, deadlines are anything but cut and dry. Let’s start with the obvious. The federal deadline for FAFSA on the Web applications is midnight Central Daylight time, June 30, 2009. But June 30th is far from the end of the story and here’s why: Although the FAFSA is the for...

Hey guys! Sorry for the very late posting of Friday’s Scholarship Announcements. My Internet has been down since Thursday. Wow, it’s amazing how disconnected I feel from the world without my trusty wireless! As I have been mentioning the past few weeks, we are in the middle of scholarship season. Late winter/early spring is high tide for scholarship deadlines, so if you are serious about winning scholarship awards, you will definitely want to dedicate a few hours each week to finding and applying for scholarships. This week, I’ve found three great opportunities with upcoming deadlines for you … But remember, these are just the tip of the iceberg! 1. The Advancing Hispanic Excellence in Technology, Engineering, Math, and Science (AHETEMS) Scholarship Program AHET...

This is kind of old news, as the article is from back in November, but I came across this great story from Fortunate Magazine about the Gates Foundation changing its philanthropic approach to education. It looks like the Foundation’s initial work in education, which had been focused on inner city high schools, wasn’t netting the results they would have liked to have seen. So, now America’s richest couple is trying a new strategy, which includes a significant investment on community colleges across the nation. According to the article, Gates — a college dropout himself (albeit from Harvard) — is especially concerned about the fact that less than 20 percent of lower income students who start college actually finish it. The goal of the Gates Foundation’...

In honor of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow, I have been thinking a lot about dreams. If you are reading this blog, odds are that attending college (or, at the very least, affording college) figures somewhere in your dreams. For many of us, college is more than just a lofty dream. It is the representation of very concrete opportunities — opportunities to learn and grow, to discover and realize our career aspirations, to change our lives for the better. In many ways, higher education is the great equalizer. With a lot of hard work and dedication, we can all come out the other side smarter, wiser and better equipped for the rest of our lives. In fact, the opportunity of higher education reminds me a lot of something Dr. King said that November day that he delivered his famous ̶...