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Book Description

This bestseller has been completely updated to provide you with the answers that you need to find wonderful colleges and universities at more affordable prices. The second edition of The College Solution, which contains approximately 90% new material, is aimed at helping parents and teenagers become empowered consumers as they navigate through the college process. Billions of dollars are available to pay for college, but not everybody gets their share. It's not always the families with the brightest students or the parents who are struggling financially who receive the most money. The College Solution shares the secrets of how you can capture some of this money for your own family. The book provides advice on such topics as financial aid, merit scholarships, athletic scholarships, admission hooks, the important differences between colleges and universities, college rankings, the best student loans and the latest online tools to evaluate the generosity of schools. O’Shaughnessy presents an easy-to-use, proven road map for getting past the ratings, and finding the right schools at the right price. No other book offers this much practical guidance on choosing and paying for college now – and no other book will save you as much money!

Table of Contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication Page
  4. Contents
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. About the Author
  7. Introduction
  8. Part I: Shrinking the Cost of College
    1. 1. Making College More Affordable
    2. 2. Show Me the Money
    3. 3. The Colleges with the Best Financial Aid
    4. 4. Who Gets Financial Aid?
    5. 5. Winning the Educational Lottery
    6. 6. Calculating Your Expected Family Contribution
    7. 7. A Revolutionary Calculator
    8. 8. The Allure of Out-of-State Public Universities
    9. 9. Looking Across State Lines for a Bargain
    10. 10. Capturing Private Scholarships
    11. 11. Will Saving for College Hurt Your Financial Aid Chances?
    12. 12. Maximizing Financial Aid
    13. 13. More Ways to Shrink the Cost of College
    14. 14. Appealing the Verdict
    15. 15. Getting Grandma to Help
  9. Part II: Increasing Your Admission Chances
    1. 16. Boosting Your Chances
    2. 17. Finding the Right Match
    3. 18. Ditching the Test
    4. 19. Showing a College Some Love
    5. 20. When Talent Is the Hook
    6. 21. The Realities of Athletic Scholarships
    7. 22. The Geographic Hook
    8. 23. Why Being Rich Helps
    9. 24. The Legacy Hook
    10. 25. Playing the Gender Card
    11. 26. Diversity Blueprint
    12. 27. The Asian Student Dilemma
  10. Part III: Knowing Your Academic Choices
    1. 28. What’s The Difference Between a College and a University?
    2. 29. The Ivy League Myth
    3. 30. What Is a Research University?
    4. 31. What University Professors Do
    5. 32. The Beauty of Liberal Arts Colleges
    6. 33. What Is a Medium-Sized University?
    7. 34. Why Community Colleges Are Popular
    8. 35. Nine Ways to Generate College Ideas
  11. Part IV: Evaluating the Academics
    1. 36. Are Students Really Learning?
    2. 37. What’s Wrong with US News & World Report’s College Rankings
    3. 38. The Right Way to Use College Rankings
    4. 39. College Rankings: An Alternative
    5. 40. The Hallmarks of a Student-Centered University
    6. 41. Staying in College Too Long
    7. 42. Grading Academic Departments
    8. 43. Kicking the Tires
  12. Part V: Admission Nuts and Bolts
    1. 44. What You Need to Know About High School Counselors
    2. 45. What You Need to Know About Independent College Counselors
    3. 46. Knowing What to Do When
    4. 47. Writing Your Way into College
    5. 48. Visiting College Campuses
    6. 49. Acing the College Interview
    7. 50. Transferring to a Different College
    8. 51. Getting Credit for Your Work
  13. Part VI: Borrowing for College
    1. 52. The Best Student Loans
    2. 53. Private College Loan Perils
  14. Index
  15. FT Press
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