Customer Reviews

Paying for College Without Going Broke, 2010 Edition (College Admissions Guides)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been buying this for over 10 years now.
It has saved us 1,000's of dollars no doubt!
Can't say enough good things about it.
The colleges' best friends are the uneducated consumers, those parents who don't bother to learn HOW the process works! Putting 4 children through college in 11 consecutive years, this book helps!

How much do you hate filling out the FASFA? I hate it every year. It is a mystery and almost worse than doing my taxes.

I dove into the FASFA two years ago, all on my own, no instructions for my son's freshman year at a fairly expensive private college. We did reasonably well on financial aid. This past year, I purchased this book and used the section by section guide to fill in the FASFA, and like magic, we qualified for $1,000 more financial aid this year. Now this is remarkable, the college cost went up a fair amount, and my wife and I both made more money over last year. I credit this book to receiving more financial aid. There are some counter-intuitive things you need to include in the FASFA that you might consider money that would reduce aid, but in fact does the opposite. The author does a fantastic job of explaining the ins and outs of that form. They were things I missed by not fully understanding the FASFA instructions.

Frankly, I wish we had bought this book during my son's Junior year in High School. There is some fantastic advice on financial choices you can make to improve the financial aid package. The book is very easy to read. It provides very practical solid advice on affording your child's college education. There is no assumption that parents will pay for 100% of your child's schooling.

The guide we found invaluable for the college search: Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. The book is getting just a little bit old, but the philosophy is still fantastic for how to look for a college.

I found the book to be useful, and it did introduce me to a few subjects I have not considered previously. However, a good deal of the information was not new to me and seemed pretty simplistic. Maybe I am better prepared than average, but I suspect the book is oriented toward the lowest common denominator. I will probably purchase the new version once I get a couple of years closer to paying the college bills for my first child. My main take-away from the book is that middle-class families will struggle to pay for college pretty much no matter what we do, we can only reduce the pain a little by planning.

While I am not a complete novice in this area, I found the book quite informative and well organized. I would strongly recommend looking at this book for all butthe most experienced indviduals in this area.

I just had two issues with the book:
(1) Some of the book discussed the status of the process years ago that no longer applied today. I am not at all sure why they bothered to leave that material in the book at this point.
(2) The back of the book had complex manual worksheets to estimate your EFC and likely aid. Very useful, but in this day and age it should not be 100% manual. An online worksheet or CD would make a lot more sense and would be much easier to use.

I don't think you can go wrong getting this book, especially given its price.

As a parent of a son going to college, there is a lot of mystery in regards to college aid and the admissions process. This book clears a lot of that up making it is a must read. It is good to read it even if it is 10 years before you kid goes to college so that you can line up your assets so as to be able to qualify for the most financial aid. I highly recommend this book.

This book contains a lot of detail that is provided by most college counselers or the university where your child is applying. With the constantly changing rules and regulations, the book also becomes obsolete very quickly. There is also a lot of information on the web.

Do you have a mid-teens child who is definitely planning on attending college? Do you spend more than a few minutes each day wondering how you're going to pay for that education? Then, get this book! Sit down with the book, a high-lighter, a pad and pen for notes and give serious thought to how the high (and increasing) costs of college will impact your family budget. This book offers easy-to-read and understand strategies for financing junior's or missy's education without driving the family into bankruptcy. Highly recommended!

My girls are a few years away from applying for college but everything in this book really seems to make sense. I am so glad that I got it early enough because it seems like the more planning we do early on (and I don't mean saving money)the better position we will be in when applying for college! This book is very easy to read.

This will be a book that I refer to often. I will buy the subsequent editions until my daughter starts college.

Plan early or there's not much you can do. That's the basic message here.