Do you know how much it is going to cost you to send your child to college? Do you have any contingency plans if you cannot get scholarships, grants or other financial aid?  Careful planning is a must for parents of students who plan on attending college. 

Many parents and their children approach the college process much like the deer running into the road. They just dart out there and hope for the best.

Given how much a college education costs, you need to plan ahead and know how to navigate through the twists and turns of the financial aid process. That way, you and your child can avoid being hit with a tuition bill that can cause serious damage to your financial future.

Most parents don’t have nearly enough money saved in their ” college fund” to send their children to school for 4 years.  You should begin saving as early as possible. The average in-state tuition and fees for full-time undergraduate students for 2004-05, before student financial aid was deducted, was $5,986 for a public two-year college and $10,720 for a four-year public university. Private four-year schools averaged $25,204 in 2004-05.

Students are finding it increasingly difficult to afford a college education. Federal Stafford loans are not available to everyone, so some students are turning to private college loans. Although these loans allow students to attend college, they carry a higher risk than government loans.
Private loans are the fastest-growing sector of the multibillion-dollar [...]

So you are ready to go to college – you have your major picked out – and a career in mind…. But what is your college degree really going to be worth in the real world?
College graduates made an average of $51,554 in 2004, the most recent figures available, compared with $28,645 for adults with [...]

If you are thinking about going back to school – now is a good time. A survey released this week indicates that us employers are predicting strong hiring for the fourth quarter – even with talk of a slowdown in the economy.
Twenty-eight percent of the 14,000 employers polled in the quarterly Manpower Employment [...]

Colleges today are seeing great numbers of adults over thirty joining the ranks of high school graduates – eager to earn degrees. Older students with real world experience are seeing that they can have better jobs and salaries if the earn a college degree.
Across the country, more than one-third of students enrolled in higher-education programs [...]

Are you looking at a career in engineering? Engineering jobs are among the most in demand jobs in the nation right now.
Engineering is a field desperately seeking qualified workers. As boomer-age professionals retire, engineering industries are facing serious shortages, according to Abbie Goodman, executive director for The Engineering Center, which provides management services to professional [...]

The National Association of Colleges and Employers has predicted that the job market will hire 17.4 percent more new graduates this year. This will be good new to college graduates as the job opportunities will be plentiful.
That stress of finding work after school should be somewhat relieved this year. The NACE expects 2007 to be [...]

Back in 1990 the rules changed for students looking to qualify for financial aid – things havent gotten better since. The federal government has limited funding for students whose families have financial means, changing its guidelines for qualification as a dependant. These days to be qualified as a dependant, you must be over [...]

It is a well-known fact that there is a shortage of qualified healthcare professionals across the nation. Healthcare professionals such as medical technologists, lab technicians, and physician’s assistants are also in high demand. As our population ages, we will continue to see an increased need for their services.
The health care profession overall is [...]

Did you ever think the United States would loose its edge? The number of students who graduate from college annually in the U.S. is on a steady decline.  This drop in numbers is putting our nation far behind many other countries in the percentage of students who graduate from college.   This decline could possibly cause [...]