Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part I The Price and Cost of College and the Systems Behind It
Chapter 1 Who Pays What and Why the Price Is So High 15
Chapter 2 Fafsa and Its Confounding Calculations Will Probably Make You Furious: Blame the Federal Government's Great Expectations 23
Chapter 3 How (and Why) Merit Aid Became Mainstream 35
Chapter 4 The Billion-Dollar Consultants Who Are Wooing You 43
Chapter 5 But Wait, Isn't Tuition a Bubble, and All of Higher Education Is Going to Come Apart at the Seams? 58
Part II The Unhelpful Feelings You May Feel
Chapter 6 Fear 71
Chapter 7 Guilt 76
Chapter 8 The Pull of Snobbery and Elitism 85
Part III Value: Things Worth Paying For
Chapter 9 Classrooms Where Experienced Instructors Have Time to Teach (and Actually Want To) 97
Chapter 10 Schools Where Students Learn (Because Many of Them Don't) 110
Chapter 11 Undergraduate Mental Health Centers That Are Not in Crisis 116
Chapter 12 Peers Worth Friending (or Marrying) 126
Chapter 13 The Special Power of Historically Women's Colleges 136
Chapter 14 Diversity in All Its Forms 140
Chapter 15 How and When Small School Size Matters 149
Chapter 16 Amenities (but Is a Lazy River a Plus?) 160
Chapter 17 Genuinely Reinvented Career Counseling Offices 168
Chapter 18 Places That Create Better Odds When Applying to Grad School 177
Chapter 19 Better Salaries When You Finish-if You Finish 181
Chapter 20 How the College of Wooster Puts It All Together 187
Part IV Money-Saving Hacks That Will Tempt You
Chapter 21 Community College Will Save You Money, but What Might You Lose? 199
Chapter 22 Honors Colleges and Programs Can Make Bigger Schools Smaller -if You Stick with the Program 207
Chapter 23 Attending College Abroad Is Often Cheaper, but You Won't Get What You Don't Pay For 214
Chapter 24 Athletic Scholarships for the Few (and Probably Not in Full or at Your First-Choice School) 221
Chapter 25 Gap Years: Great, Sometimes Pricey, Might Help You Get a Better Job Someday 225
Chapter 26 Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard: Decent Money, Big Responsibility 230
Chapter 27 Skipping College Is Probably Not a Great Idea 233
Part V The Plans: Saving, Talking, Touring, Bargaining, And Borrowing
Chapter 28 How to Make the Big Financial Plan 243
Chapter 29 How to Have the College Money Talk with Your Child 252
Chapter 30 All Your Questions About Saving for College and 529 Plans 260
Chapter 31 How to Shop for College (and Where to Find the Juicy Merit Aid Data) 274
Chapter 32 When (and How) to Hire an Independent College Counselor or Financial Planner 288
Chapter 33 How to Appeal Your Financial Aid Award 294
Chapter 34 All the Student Loan Basics in One Tidy Place 303
Chapter 35 One More Feeling: Hope 313
Acknowledgments 319
Notes 325
Bibliography 343
Index 347