Don't pay sticker price for college

By Lynn O'Shaughnessy

When you're shopping for a car, you and the salesman on the dealer's lot both understand that the sticker price is meaningless.

You could say the same thing about college tuition. Sure, colleges would prefer that you pay full fare, but they will slash the price for the right kids. In fact, the typical private school routinely cuts its tuition by 33.5%, according to the College Board. And even the less expensive public universities are offering an average break of 14.7%.

Not every student will qualify for these blue-light specials, but it would be an expensive mistake to assume that only those with fabulous SAT scores cash in.

• Want more? Follow MSN Money on Twitter

"The golden rule is this: If you don't ask, you won't get the money," says Rick Darvis, CPA, who is founder of the National Institute of Certified College Planners. "The key is knowing that this cash is there and positioning for it."

Here are 11 ways to increase the chances of getting your share of the money:

Check out financial aid. Even before cracking open any of those fat college guides, you'll want to have a pretty good idea of whether you'll qualify for financial aid. Why? Answering the financial aid question before you begin shopping for colleges and universities is crucial because then you'll know which kind of schools you can approach for those discounted prices. To see where you stand on the aid issue, use the Expected Family Contribution Calculator at CollegeBoard.com.

Search for great financial aid packages. If you'll qualify for financial aid, cozy up to generous colleges. "Look for schools that meet 75% to 100% of need," recommends Paula Bishop, a CPA in Bellevue, Wash., who counsels families on admission strategies. You'll want to focus on schools that stuff their financial aid packages with grants -- they don't need to be repaid -- rather than loans. You can look at a school's loan-vs.-grant split by visiting CollegeBoard.com and clicking on an institution's "Cost & Financial Aid" link.

Amherst College, for example, is among the elite private schools that are extremely generous: It meets 100% of a family's financial need. Amherst's annual cost is $51,828, but the average aid package is $37,077 and, of that amount, 92% is outright grants. For students who qualify for this much aid, a private school could end up being cheaper than an in-state public institution. In contrast, New York University typically meets only 72% of a student's financial need, according to the College Board. And 42% of the financial aid that NYU generally provides is loans and work study.

Look for merit cash. Affluent families who won't qualify for financial aid should hunt instead for schools that shower kids with merit money. Some schools will routinely award merit money to kids who are among the top 20% or 25% of their applicants. Plenty of colleges and universities post their scholarship requirements on their Web sites. Baylor University, for instance, has installed an online scholarship calculator on its Web site for prospective students. Type in your class rank, number of students in your class and your SAT and/or ACT scores and it will instantly tell you how much merit money you might receive. Seventy percent of a recent Baylor freshman class earned merit money.

Read college strategic plans. This might sound like a waste of time, but checking out these statements at college Web sites can trigger a cash bonanza. Many schools will lavish merit money on kids who can help them with their own institutional wish lists, says Carolyn Lawrence, an independent college counselor in San Diego and the creator of AdmissionsAdvice.com, a college admissions blog. "Sometimes there is very specific information in the strategic plan, such as 'we want to increase our test scores,' so you know that kids with higher test scores for the school will be pretty desirable," Lawrence observes. Other schools might say that they want to increase their geographic or racial diversity.

Sometimes you'll have to read between the lines to figure out a college's admission priorities. "If you see a school, which is not known for the sciences or the arts, that is investing money in building a multimillion-dollar science or arts facility and the president is talking about building a reputation in those areas, it's often a good bet that a student interested in those areas or with special talents will be desirable," Lawrence says.

Continued: Shop around

 1 | 2 | next >