Download or read book The College Game How Anyone Can Get a University Education And Afford It written by William Kibler and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2018-08 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: College admissions today is a game. Those that don't know the rules, lose. The author, William Kibler, has over twelve years experience in college admissions and has placed students from Maine to California and Washington to Florida. This work is meant to encapsulate the entire admissions and financial aid processes. The book addresses basic terminology, the impact of grades and test scores, how to make a student more appealing and more competitive, the impact of athletics on admissions and financial aid, a four year plan in high school, competitions, personal statements, college visits, college fairs, interviews, applications and getting more financial aid especially for middle class families. A university education is the doorway to more opportunities in life. This book is designed to give a student the keys to attaining the best universities and colleges at the best prices. The book offers a specific road map from the beginning of high school to freshman induction at the university. Knowing how to navigate the rules of the college game has the potential to save a family tens of thousands of dollars for higher education.

Download or read book Making College Pay written by Beth Akers and published by Crown Currency. This book was released on 2021-05-18 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading economist makes the case that college is still a smart investment, and reveals how to increase the odds of your degree paying off. “Full of easy-to-understand advice grounded in deep expertise and research.”—Martin West, William Henry Bloomberg Professor of Education, Harvard University The cost of college makes for frightening headlines. The outstanding balance of student loans is more than $1.5 trillion nationally, while tuitions continue to rise. And on the heels of a pandemic that nearly dismantled the traditional college experience, we have to wonder: Is college really worth it? From a financial perspective, says economist Beth Akers, the answer is yes. It’s true that college is expensive, but once we see higher education for what it is—an investment in future opportunities, job security, and earnings—a different picture emerges: The average college graduate earns an additionalmillion dollars over their career (compared to those who stopped their education after high school), and on average, two- and four-year schools deliver a 15 percent return on investment—double that of the stock market. Yet these outcomes are not guaranteed. Rather, they hinge upon where and how you opt to invest your tuition dollars. Simply put, the real problem with college isn’t the cost—it’s the risk that your investment might not pay off. In Making College Pay, Akers shows how to improve your odds by making smart choices about where to enroll, what to study, and how to pay for it. You’ll learn • why choosing the right major can matter more than where you enroll • the best criteria for picking a school (hint: not price, selectivity or ranking) • why working part-time while enrolled might set you back financially • why it’s often best to borrow, even if you don’t have to • the pros and cons of innovative alternatives to traditional college • how to take advantage of new, low-risk financing tools Full of practical advice for students and parents, Making College Pay reminds us that higher education remains an engine for opportunity, upward mobility, and prosperity.

Download or read book Game On written by Susan F. Paterno and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2021-06-15 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Director of the Chapman journalism program—and mother of four recent college grads—Susan F. Paterno leads you through the admissions process to help you and your family make the best decision possible. How is it possible that Harvard is more affordable for most American families than their local state university? Or that up to half of eligible students receive no financial aid? Or that public universities are rejecting homegrown middle- and working-class applicants and instead enrolling wealthy out-of- state students? College admission has escalated into a high-stakes game of emotional and financial survival. How is the deck stacked against you? And what can you do about it? Susan F. Paterno, a veteran academic and journalist, answers these questions and more in Game On. Paterno helped her four very different kids navigate the application process to a wide range of colleges, paying for their four-year educations on a finite budget. She incisively decodes the college admission industry—the consultants, the tutors, the rankers, the branding companies hawking “advantage”—and arms you with the knowledge you need to make the system work for you. You’ll learn how to narrow your focus, analyze who gets in and why, and look for the right financial fit before considering anything else, including geography, reputation, and, especially, ranking. Among the tools and insights in Game On: · Why forty years of failed free-market policies have led to skyrocketing tuition and historic levels of student debt · Why applying to college has become a bewildering maze and how to find your way to a successful result · Why college costs are more terrifying than you think · How to read beyond the rack rate to negotiate the best financial package with the least debt · Why merit is a myth, but merit aid is essential · The difference between family debt and student debt and how to split it A playbook for the Hunger Games of higher education, Game On explains the anxiety, uncertainty, and chaos in college admission, explodes the myth of meritocracy, exposes the academy’s connection to America’s widening gap between rich and poor, and provides strategies to beat—and reform—a broken system.

Download or read book The Student Aid Game written by Michael McPherson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Student aid in higher education has recently become a hot-button issue. Parents trying to pay for their children's education, college administrators competing for students, and even President Bill Clinton, whose recently proposed tax breaks for college would change sharply the federal government's financial commitment to higher education, have staked a claim in its resolution. In The Student Aid Game, Michael McPherson and Morton Owen Schapiro explain how both colleges and governments are struggling to cope with a rapidly changing marketplace, and show how sound policies can help preserve the strengths and remedy some emerging weaknesses of American higher education. McPherson and Schapiro offer a detailed look at how undergraduate education is financed in the United States, highlighting differences across sectors and for students of differing family backgrounds. They review the implications of recent financing trends for access to and choice of undergraduate college and gauge the implications of these national trends for the future of college opportunity. The authors examine how student aid fits into college budgets, how aid and pricing decisions are shaped by government higher education policies, and how competition has radically reshaped the way colleges think about the strategic role of student aid. Of particular interest is the issue of merit aid. McPherson and Schapiro consider the attractions and pitfalls of merit aid from the viewpoint of students, institutions, and society. The Student Aid Game concludes with an examination of policy options for both government and individual institutions. McPherson and Schapiro argue that the federal government needs to keep its attention focused on providing access to college for needy students, while colleges themselves need to constrain their search for strategic advantage by sticking to aid and admission policies they are willing to articulate and defend publicly.

Download or read book Debt Free U written by Zac Bissonnette and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-08-31 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book can save you more than $100,000. These days, most people assume you need to pay a boatload of money for a quality college education. As a result, students and their parents are willing to go into years of debt and potentially sabotage their entire financial futures just to get a fancy name on their diploma. But Zac Bissonnette is walking proof that this assumption is not only false, but dangerous-a class con game designed to rip you off and doom your student to a post-graduation life of near poverty . From his unique double perspective-he's a personal finance expert (at Daily Finance) AND a current senior at the University of Massachusetts-Zac figured out how to get an outstanding education at a public college, without bankrupting his parents or taking on massive loans. Armed with his personal knowledge, the latest data, and smart analysis, Zac takes on the sacred cows of the higher education establishment. He reveals why a lot of the conventional wisdom about choosing and financing college is not only wrong but hazardous to you and your child's financial future. You'll discover, for instance, that: * Student loans are NOT a necessary evil. Ordinary middle class families can- and must-find ways to avoid them, even without scholarships. * College "rankings" are useless-designed to sell magazines and generate hype. If you trust one of the major guides when picking a college, you face a potential financial disaster. * The elite graduate programs accept lots of people with non-elite bachelors degrees. So do America's most selective employers. The name on a diploma ultimately won't help your child have a more successful career or earn more money. Zac can prove every one of those bold assertions - and more. No matter what your current financial situation, he has a simple message for parents: "RELAX! Your kid will be able to get a champagne education on a beer budget!"

Download or read book How to Go to College Almost for Free written by Ben Kaplan and published by Turtleback Books. This book was released on 2008-06-01 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a step-by-step guide for prospective college students that shows students of all ages how to find and win scholarship prizes and cut down on student debt.

Download or read book The College Solution written by Lynn O'Shaughnessy and published by FT Press. This book was released on 2008-06-06 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The College Solution helps readers look beyond over-hyped admission rankings to discover schools that offer a quality education at affordable prices. Taking the guesswork out of saving and finding money for college, this is a practical and insightful must-have guide for every parent!” —Jaye J. Fenderson, Seventeen’s College Columnist and Author, Seventeen’s Guide to Getting into College “This book is a must read in an era of rising tuition and falling admission rates. O’Shaughnessy offers good advice with blessed clarity and brevity.” —Jay Mathews, Washington Post Education Writer and Columnist “I would recommend any parent of a college-bound student read The College Solution.” —Kal Chany, Author, The Princeton Review’s Paying for College Without Going Broke “The College Solution goes beyond other guidebooks in providing an abundance of information about how to afford college, in addition to how to approach the selection process by putting the student first.” —Martha “Marty” O’Connell, Executive Director, Colleges That Change Lives “Lynn O’Shaughnessy always focuses on what’s in the consumer’s best interest, telling families how to save money and avoid making costly mistakes.” —Mark Kantrowitz, Publisher, FinAid.org and Author, FastWeb College Gold “An antidote to the hype and hysteria about getting in and paying for college! O’Shaughnessy has produced an excellent overview that demystifies the college planning process for students and families.” —Barmak Nassirian, American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers For millions of families, the college planning experience has become extremely stressful. And, unless your child is an elite student in the academic top 1%, most books on the subject won’t help you. Now, however, there’s a college guide for everyone. In The College Solution, top personal finance journalist Lynn O’Shaughnessy presents an easy-to-use roadmap to finding the right college program (not just the most hyped) and dramatically reducing the cost of college, too. Forget the rankings! Discover what really matters: the quality and value of the programs your child wants and deserves. O’Shaughnessy uncovers “industry secrets” on how colleges actually parcel out financial aid—and how even “average” students can maximize their share. Learn how to send your kids to expensive private schools for virtually the cost of an in-state public college...and how promising students can pay significantly less than the “sticker price” even at the best state universities. No other book offers this much practical guidance on choosing a college...and no other book will save you as much money! • Secrets your school’s guidance counselor doesn’t know yet The surprising ways colleges have changed how they do business • Get every dime of financial aid that’s out there for you Be a “fly on the wall” inside the college financial aid office • U.S. News & World Report: clueless about your child Beyond one-size-fits-all rankings: finding the right program for your teenager • The best bargains in higher education Overlooked academic choices that just might be perfect for you

Download or read book The Guide to Getting In written by Harvard Student Agencies, Inc. and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2013-05-17 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Getting into a college can be the most stressful ordeal a student can face, with endless planning, test-taking, competition, the torturous wait for an answer. . . . Now six undergraduates at Harvard reveal the secrets they learned while applying to the country's top colleges. With wit and common sense, they share tips you won't get from college counselors--because these students have actually faced the process themselves . . . and beaten it! Learn how to: - Clean up your image in high school and capitalize on your strengths - Choose the right college using factors that really matter - Make your personal essay stand out with examples of essays that worked and why. - Finance your education, no matter what your means Also including: - Surprising, fun facts, and a useful glossary of common admissions terms - Quotes from current students on their experiences and regrets

Download or read book College Is for Suckers written by April Norhanian and published by College Is For Suckers. This book was released on 2009-02-10 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: College Is For Suckers -The First College Guide You Should Read is a frank and to-the-point "buyer beware" for anyone considering a college "vacation." This book offers insightful information that could save you thousands of dollars! While exposing the "hype" associated with a traditional college education, this book provides you with valuable options for higher education in your pursuit of a successful future. Even if you are dead set on going to college, you can't afford to be without this book! Be aware of what you, as a college consumer, can realistically expect from a traditional four-year college. Don't be a sucker! College Is For Suckers -The First College Guide You Should Read... Shatters myths about the need for a traditional liberal arts education. Compares the "hype" with the actual value of a four-year degree in today's market. Peels away the extra fluff associated with the "college experience" and shows how you can be a "well-rounded" party animal on your own while attending trade schools, vo-tech programs or apprenticeships that actually prepare you for a career. Provides thought-provoking points to help you decide if college is necessary for you, or at least necessary for you now. Explains how college has actually "dumbed-down" due to grade inflation, ridiculous requirements, and outdated curriculums. Offers creative alternatives for achieving a marketable education. Lists valuable resources for obtaining knowledge, credentials and experience (other than a four-year college) and shares the secrets of successful professionals who never graduated from college. Explains the dangers of student loans and how college is not always a good "investment."

Download or read book Billion Dollar Ball written by Gilbert M. Gaul and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-09-06 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A penetrating examination of how the elite college football programs have become ‘giant entertainment businesses that happened to do a little education on the side.’”—Mark Kram, The New York Times Two-time Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Gilbert M. Gaul offers a riveting and sometimes shocking look inside the money culture of college football and how it has come to dominate a surprising number of colleges and universities. Over the past decade college football has not only doubled in size, but its elite programs have become a $2.5-billion-a-year entertainment business, with lavishly paid coaches, lucrative television deals, and corporate sponsors eager to slap their logos on everything from scoreboards to footballs and uniforms. Profit margins among the top football schools range from 60% to 75%—results that dwarf those of such high-profile companies as Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft—yet thanks to the support of their football-mad representatives in Congress, teams aren’t required to pay taxes. In most cases, those windfalls are not passed on to the universities themselves, but flow directly back into their athletic departments. College presidents have been unwilling or powerless to stop a system that has spawned a wildly profligate infrastructure of coaches, trainers, marketing gurus, and a growing cadre of bureaucrats whose sole purpose is to ensure that players remain academically eligible to play. From the University of Oregon’s lavish $42 million academic center for athletes to Alabama coach Nick Saban’s $7 million paycheck—ten times what the school pays its president, and 70 times what a full-time professor there earns—Gaul examines in depth the extraordinary financial model that supports college football and the effect it has had not only on other athletic programs but on academic ones as well. What are the consequences when college football coaches are the highest paid public employees in over half the states in an economically troubled country, or when football players at some schools receive ten times the amount of scholarship awards that academically gifted students do? Billion-Dollar Ball considers these and many other issues in a compelling account of how an astonishingly wealthy sports franchise has begun to reframe campus values and distort the fundamental academic mission of our universities.

Download or read book Will College Pay Off written by Peter Cappelli and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2015-06-09 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The decision of whether to go to college, or where, is hampered by poor information and inadequate understanding of the financial risk involved. Adding to the confusion, the same degree can cost dramatically different amounts for different people. A barrage of advertising offers new degrees designed to lead to specific jobs, but we see no information on whether graduates ever get those jobs. Mix in a frenzied applications process, and pressure from politicians for "relevant" programs, and there is an urgent need to separate myth from reality. Peter Cappelli, an acclaimed expert in employment trends, the workforce, and education, provides hard evidence that counters conventional wisdom and helps us make cost-effective choices. Among the issues Cappelli analyzes are: What is the real link between a college degree and a job that enables you to pay off the cost of college, especially in a market that is in constant change? Why it may be a mistake to pursue degrees that will land you the hottest jobs because what is hot today is unlikely to be so by the time you graduate. Why the most expensive colleges may actually be the cheapest because of their ability to graduate students on time. How parents and students can find out what different colleges actually deliver to students and whether it is something that employers really want. College is the biggest expense for many families, larger even than the cost of the family home, and one that can bankrupt students and their parents if it works out poorly. Peter Cappelli offers vital insight for parents and students to make decisions that both make sense financially and provide the foundation that will help students make their way in the world.

Download or read book Re Defining the Goal written by Kevin J. Fleming, Ph.d. and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-07-02 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How is it possible that both university graduates and unfilled job openings are both at record-breaking highs? Our world has changed. New and emerging occupations in every industry now require a combination of academic knowledge and technical ability. With rising education costs, mounting student debt, fierce competition for jobs, and the oversaturation of some academic majors in the workforce, we need to once again guide students towards personality-aligned careers and not just into college. Extensively researched, (Re)Defining the Goal deconstructs the prevalent "one-size-fits-all" education agenda. The author provides a fresh perspective, replicable strategies, and outlines six proven steps to help students secure a competitive advantage in the new economy. Gain a new paradigm and the right resources to help students avoid the pitfalls of unemployment, or underemployment, after graduation.

Download or read book Paying for the Party written by Elizabeth A. Armstrong and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-08 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two young women, dormitory mates, embark on their education at a big state university. Five years later, one is earning a good salary at a prestigious accounting firm. With no loans to repay, she lives in a fashionable apartment with her fiancé. The other woman, saddled with burdensome debt and a low GPA, is still struggling to finish her degree in tourism. In an era of skyrocketing tuition and mounting concern over whether college is "worth it," Paying for the Party is an indispensable contribution to the dialogue assessing the state of American higher education. A powerful exposé of unmet obligations and misplaced priorities, it explains in vivid detail why so many leave college with so little to show for it. Drawing on findings from a five-year interview study, Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton bring us to the campus of "MU," a flagship Midwestern public university, where we follow a group of women drawn into a culture of status seeking and sororities. Mapping different pathways available to MU students, the authors demonstrate that the most well-resourced and seductive route is a "party pathway" anchored in the Greek system and facilitated by the administration. This pathway exerts influence over the academic and social experiences of all students, and while it benefits the affluent and well-connected, Armstrong and Hamilton make clear how it seriously disadvantages the majority. Eye-opening and provocative, Paying for the Party reveals how outcomes can differ so dramatically for those whom universities enroll.

Download or read book Right College Right Price written by Frank Palmasani and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the midst of a $1 trillion student loan debt crisis, students and their families have had the same question on their minds: Can I afford to pay for a college education? Good news: the answer is yes. By shifting the way we think about the college search, every family can find the right college at the right price. Right College, Right Price helps you discover the real cost of a college (after scholarships, work study, loans, etc.) before you even begin to apply—saving you hundreds of dollars in application fees and thousands of dollars in tuition. This guide will walk you through simple, but powerful, steps of the Financial Fit program, which will allow you to: Calculate exactly how much you can afford to spend on college. Find great colleges you can afford. Understand the ins and outs of the financial aid process. Choose the right college and avoid excessive debt. With Right College, Right Price, your student will not only have access to a college education, but also a life after college—without the burden of excessive student loan debt.

Download or read book The Price You Pay for College written by Ron Lieber and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-01-26 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named one of the best books of 2021 by NPR New York Times Bestseller and a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice pick “Masterly . . .represents an extraordinary achievement: It is comprehensive and detailed without being tedious, practical without being banal, impeccably well judged and unusually rigorous.”—Daniel Markovits, New York Times Book Review “Ron Lieber is a gift.”—Scott Galloway The hugely popular New York Times Your Money columnist and author of the bestselling The Opposite of Spoiled offers a deeply reported and emotionally honest approach to the biggest financial decision families will ever make: what to pay for college—a decision made even more confusing because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sending a teenager to a flagship state university for four years of on-campus living costs more than $100,000 in many parts of the United States. Meanwhile, many families of freshmen attending selective private colleges will spend triple—over $300,000. With the same passion, smarts, and humor that infuse his personal finance column, Ron Lieber offers a much-needed roadmap to help families navigate this difficult and often confusing journey. Lieber begins by explaining who pays what and why and how the financial aid system got so complicated. He also pulls the curtain back on merit aid, an entirely new form of discounting that most colleges now use to compete with peers. While price is essential, value is paramount. So what is worth paying extra for, and how do you know when it exists in abundance at any particular school? Is a small college better than a big one? Who actually does the teaching? Given that every college claims to have reinvented its career center, who should we actually believe? He asks the tough questions of college presidents and financial aid gatekeepers that parents don’t know (or are afraid) to ask and summarizes the research about what matters and what doesn’t. Finally, Lieber calmly walks families through the process of setting financial goals, explaining the system to their children and figuring out the right ways to save, borrow, and bargain for a better deal. The Price You Pay for College gives parents the clarity they need to make informed choices and helps restore the joy and wonder the college experience is supposed to represent.

Download or read book Colleges That Pay You Back written by Princeton Review and published by Princeton Review. This book was released on 2015-06-09 with total page 1769 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: YOU NEED A GREAT RETURN ON YOUR COLLEGE INVESTMENT. College costs more than ever these days. That's why we at The Princeton Review have worked to expand our wildly popular "Best Value Colleges" list into this comprehensive guidebook! Inside, you'll find detailed profiles of the 200 best-value schools and learn what it takes to get into them. Great Education at a Great Price • 200 schools that offer average grants of over $22,600—plus 9 tuition-free schools • Top-value picks based on 40+ data points, including academics, cost of attendance, financial aid, and post-grad salary figures Unique Ranking Lists • Lists of the top 20 schools with the Best Alumni Network, Best Career Placement, Top Financial Aid, and more • Unique return-on-education rating for each school, with the Top 50 ranked by rating • Lists of the highest-paying majors and great schools that offer them Valuable Career Information from PayScale.com • Starting and mid-career salary information for graduates of each school • Job satisfaction ratings from college alumni—and whether they would recommend their alma mater With the 2015 edition of Colleges That Pay You Back, you'll get everything you need to find a school with quality academics, reasonable tuition, and great financial aid. Remember: No one knows colleges like The Princeton Review!

Download or read book Why Does College Cost So Much written by Robert B. Archibald and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-11-10 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much of what is written about colleges and universities ties rapidly rising tuition to dysfunctional behavior in the academy. Common targets of dysfunction include prestige games among universities, gold plated amenities, and bloated administration. This book offers a different view. To explain rising college cost, the authors place the higher education industry firmly within the larger economic history of the United States. The trajectory of college cost is similar to cost behavior in many other industries, and this is no coincidence. Higher education is a personal service that relies on highly educated labor. A technological trio of broad economic forces has come together in the last thirty years to cause higher education costs, and costs in many other industries, to rise much more rapidly than the inflation rate. The main culprit is economic growth itself. This finding does not mean that all is well in American higher education. A college education has become less reachable to a broad swathe of the American public at the same time that the market demand for highly educated people has soared. This affordability problem has deep roots. The authors explore how cost pressure, the changing wage structure of the US economy, and the complexity of financial aid policy combine to reduce access to higher education below what we need in the 21st century labor market. This book is a call to calm the rhetoric of blame and to instead find policies that will increase access to higher education while preserving the quality of our colleges and universities.