The BIG BUSINESS OF COLLEGE is a debt-fueled industry, that's scary. Students will borrow $70 billion from the Federal Government with its Stafford Loan. That's the student-loan which caps out at $27,000 over four years and it's the only loan the student can sign for themselves. Parents are estimated to take out on average three times that amount, bringing the projected loan total for this years high school graduating class to $280 billion. That means over 50% of college costs ($500 billion industry) will be paid through loans. That's debt-fueled and that's astounding. What do you need to do? You need to understand the implications of the business transaction you are about to encounter.

We have the implications here in our new book, available only in digital form for the next week or so-

     Dissecting the Big Business of College

This book exposes the college interests. It exposes the parent's weak tendencies. It teaches parents the college perspective. And it gives parents my Top 10 Strategies that's proven for saving thousands on college costs. Upon learning, implementing, and executing, parents will advance their position of strength in dealing with colleges.

To continue on with our ten strategies for saving thousands on college costs, we have- 

Strategy # 2- Be knowledgeable of the authority, influences, policy, and numbers

This game belongs to the college. They set the rules by which you play. You don’t have to like the rules, but you should know the rules if you want to have any chance of winning the game.

For starters, know who controls the dollars, that would be the authority. For merit scholarships, the authority is the Admission Office. For athletic scholarships, the authority is the Athletic Office. For financial aid, the authority is the Financial Aid office. It’s your job to understand how each college works in regard to its financial awards. It begins in the office of authority.

You must get to know what influences the awards. For merit awards, the influences are twofold, one being the student’s credentials which are awarded upfront upon acceptance; and two being the strategy of the admission office to use merit scholarships as a tool for incentivizing students to enroll which are awarded on the backend of the process upon appeal. The goal is to maximize the upfront scholarship while creating leverage for backend negotiations.

Through your early college visits, you will have the opportunity to learn the policy for which drives financial awards. Every college has a policy for scholarships and it’s your job to know it by asking the right questions.

Through your personal homework and research on the college, you have the opportunity to learn the numbers that result from the policy. The numbers reflect in the results of the college policies. It's college-logical to me.