CostOfCollege

With student loan debt at a trillion dollars and rising, it's no surprise that more students are searching for creative ways to finance their college educations. Alltuition and CollegeNET are among the companies that want to help.

President Barack Obama called Friday for an overhaul of the higher education financial aid system, warning that colleges and universities that fail to control spiraling tuition costs could lose federal funds.

How do you avoid sending your kid off into the world without a pile of student loan debt? One key is to figure out the real, bottom-line price of a specific college -- before you apply. DailyFinance's Laura Rowley explains.

Putting kids through college is something most parents expect will cost a bundle -- and it does. Just take a look at the Department of Education's College Affordability and Transparency website, which gives the lowdown on the costs, as well as trends in tuition rates. It's not a pretty picture.