Personal Financial Tip Vol. 5 - College Tuition

If you haven't noticed lately, college tuition increases have more than doubled the cost of living rates.

Most schools have resorted to dramatically increasing the "sticker price" on their base tuition. During the admissions process, the schools review the students admission information and "kick back" tuition dollars in the form of scholarships and grants to get your student in.

An example, let's assume your child applies to a top level engineering program. If the student has the minimum SAT and grade point averages for admission, there will be little if any scholarship money available.

However, if you have exceptional grades and SAT scores and are willing to be patient you'll find that schools will offer substantial scholarship money in order to fill their admissions quota and maintain a high quality admission student.

So while I'm not a fan of chaining you student to a desk to get the maximum scholarship money, the student needs to be aware that a little extra elbow grease will go a long way in taking the inflation bite out of tuition