After filling out a form, visitors to these sites will be given names and addresses of contacts for dozens of private scholarships. Many of the scholarships are modest - a few hundred dollars each. However, each dollar your scholar gets in free money is a dollar that you, he or she won't have to pay. But the Federal Trade Commission says these guarantees are largely bogus. Consider payment plans.
Most colleges offer some form of installment plan.
Typically, you'll pay a small fee to enroll, or the college will charge a small amount of interest on the loan. Either way, the stretched-out payments can make the costs a little easier to budget. The non-negotiable costs of tuition, books and fees generally account for only about half the total cost of college. Subsidized student loans, such as Stafford and Perkins loans, are part of financial-aid packages and should be included in your aid award letter. However, there also are PLUS loans, which can be used to finance the entire cost of undergraduate education.