Discounts and Deals at the Nation's 360 Best Colleges : The Parent Soup Financial Aid and College Guide [Paperback]

Bruce G. Hammond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 1999

From Parent Soup, the leading Internet parenting site, comes the only book that reveals how the financial aid process really works today and how savvy families can pay less at the nation's best colleges.

Bruce Hammond shows how discounts and deals can reduce the "sicker price" at top colleges nationwide--even for families who would not have qualified for need-based aid in the past. Since the Justice Department broke up financial aid collaboration among the elite colleges in 1991, and because of escalating competitive pressures, colleges now use financial aid to compete for students rather than merely to cover need. The relatively uniform system of aid that existed years ago is gone, replaced by one in which aid varies depending on the school's resources and its place in the market. Combining financial aid information with a detailed guide to the nation's 360 best college, the book reveals: which collegs offer the best need-based aid, which colleges give the biggest merid scholarships, how to qualify for scholarships and discounts, when and how to negotiate for a better aid package.

Discounts and Deals at the Nation's 360 Best Colleges cuts through the confusing world of financial aid with no-nonsense advice and insider lists and rankings. It is an indispensable resource for parents and students as they enter one of the most important times in their lives.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bruce G. Hammond counsels thousands of parents of college-bound students each year as the school and college expert at Parent Soup, part of the online community of iVillage.com, which attracts more than five million different visitors per month. He has been the editor-in-chief of The Insider's Guide to the Colleges, managing editor of The Fiske Guide to Colleges, and co-author of The Fiske Guide to Getting into the Right College. He is currently a college counselor at an independent school in Alburquerque, New Mexico, where he lives.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press (August 20, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582380309
• ISBN-13: 978-1582380308
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #616,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Adequate information for anxious college hopefuls, June 22, 2001

By 

Christine P (Henderson, Nevada United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Discounts and Deals at the Nation's 360 Best Colleges : The Parent Soup Financial Aid and College Guide (Paperback)

Overall the book was comprehensive enough in the sense that it covered about 360 summaries on individual colleges and the types of unique financial aid that they offer. It also acts somewhat in part as a college guide because the author separates the colleges according to the most competitve, the highly competitive, and the competitive ones while also listing their individual acceptance rates. There is also significant info on FAFSA and PROFILE forms and a history on the federal government's policy on giving financial aid. The only thing that I warn potential readers is that the deadlines listed regarding the colleges are dreadfully outdated in many of the universities included here. Also, it would've been helpful if he had included the average financial aid package per college or the address of the college just for reference. This is a pretty sufficient book though for those who want to get the whole scheme of things and a little bit more, and for those who want to get a head start on the financial aid game. When I applied for financial aid to my colleges, I always had this book handy - so the money spent in buying this was overall not wasted.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A canny hybrid of lists, resources and pithy profiles, September 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Discounts and Deals at the Nation's 360 Best Colleges : The Parent Soup Financial Aid and College Guide (Paperback)

This book is divided roughly in half between a savvy analysis of recent trends in college finance and financial aid and thumbnail sketches of over 300 of the top colleges and universities in the country. The balance seems about right. When one's eyes begin to glaze over from the sheer volume of acronyms and hair splitting definitions of "need-blind" and and other terms of art, one can always flip to the college profiles and read a refreshingly frank exposition on, say, the difference between Wesleyan, Amherst and Williams. The fact that no one description exceeds one paragraph makes for exceptional doctor's office or short sit reading.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive Financial Aid book, August 8, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Kathy) (CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Discounts and Deals at the Nation's 360 Best Colleges : The Parent Soup Financial Aid and College Guide (Paperback)

I was impressed by the amount of information in this book. Wish it had been published last year when we were going through the admissions process. It is a book I will highly recommend to my online parents group who have students in the college admissions process. It is great to have a book that addresses school specific scholarships.