The acceptance letter has arrived and now you're dreading those future tuition bills. MoneyWatch Editorial Director Eric Schurenberg explains who is and isn't likely to receive financial assistance.
>> Sumi Das: Regardless of what's happening with the economy, a college education is still important, but tuition costs are at an all time high. Many people assume that aid is only available to those in financial need but Eric Schurenberg says that's actually not the case. Eric thanks for joining us.
>> Eric Schurenberg: Nice to be here.
>> Sumi Das: So let's clear up this misconception. You say that even if a family can afford college, they can still qualify for financial aid?
>> Eric Schurenberg: That's right, they can. In recent years, the amount of financial aid going to families with incomes over 100 thousand dollars has actually increased 4-fold and the amount going to families with less income has actually shrunk slightly. Colleges are after a freshman class that will make them look good. So if your child has good grades, good scores, a high class standing chances are any number of colleges would be willing to talk to them and maybe throw some money their way.
>> Sumi Das: So in other words, you should probably hit the books.
>> Eric Schurenberg: That's a good idea.
>> Sumi Das: So there are many different ways to go about securing financial aid. What are some strategies?
>> Eric Schurenberg: Well in any negotiation it's always a good idea to find out what the person on the other side of the table is thinking. And the best way to find that out in this case it to get a really valuable document - a little known document - called a common data set. You can get it for free: Google common dataset and the name of the college you're interested in. This document will tell you everything you need to know about the incoming freshman class: the number of people who apply, the number of people who are accepted, what the most desirable characteristics were at that school and everything you want to know about financial aid, who applied for it, whether they were likely to get it, how the financial aid broke down between loans and grants. It's really a valuable document.
>> Sumi Das: So you can compare your own situation: maybe find out what your odds are loosely?
>> Eric Schurenberg: That's right.
>> Sumi Das: And you say that families can also be smart about which universities they apply to. What's your recommendation for a student who's just embarking on that application process?
>> Eric Schurenberg: Well if you have your child's grade point average and class standing and all of that basic information, you can call the financial aid office and ask for what's called a pre-read. Armed with that information a good financial aid officer should be able to tell you how likely it is that your child will get financial aid and how much.
>> Sumi Das: If only I'd known all this when I was applying to college. Eric thank you so much.
>> Eric Schurenberg: My pleasure Sumi.
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