Discounts and Deals at the Nation's 360 Best Colleges : The Parent Soup Financial Aid and College Guide

From Parent Soup, the leading Internet parenting site, comes the only book that reveals how the financial aid process really works today and how savvy families can pay less at the nation's best colleges.

Bruce Hammond shows how discounts and deals can reduce the "sicker price" at top colleges nationwide--even for families who would not have qualified for need-based aid in the past. Since the Justice Department broke up financial aid collaboration among the elite colleges in 1991, and because of escalating competitive pressures, colleges now use financial aid to compete for students rather than merely to cover need. The relatively uniform system of aid that existed years ago is gone, replaced by one in which aid varies depending on the school's resources and its place in the market. Combining financial aid information with a detailed guide to the nation's 360 best college, the book reveals: which collegs offer the best need-based aid, which colleges give the biggest merid scholarships, how to qualify for scholarships and discounts, when and how to negotiate for a better aid package.

Discounts and Deals at the Nation's 360 Best Colleges cuts through the confusing world of financial aid with no-nonsense advice and insider lists and rankings. It is an indispensable resource for parents and students as they enter one of the most important times in their lives.