cost of college

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.

For years now, private college tuition has risen far faster than inflation, a fact that colleges have used a fancy theory called Baumol's Law to explain away. Unfortunately for families who pay over $200,000 to send a child to one of those schools, the comparative value of the education rarely justifies the higher price.

Budgets may be tight for most Americans, but that hasn't stopped colleges and universities from raising tuition. Public universities, which are typically perceived as a more affordable option, are really turning up the heat on students thanks to rising debts in both state and local governments....

There's data out there showing that, on average, private college graduates don't graduate with that much more debt than public college graduates. But the rosy numbers don't tell the whole story, and what they leave out is costing students and their families tens of thousands of dollars.

A lot of high school students dream of going to college in New York City, and who can blame them? The problem is you'll most likely pay dearly for the privilege. And chances are you may take an awfully long time to recoup that investment.

The state of Pennsylvania is looking into the possibility of creating a new type of four-year degree-granting institution which would offer a low cost accelerated bachelor's degree on a no-frills campus. State Board of Education chairman Joseph Torsella says that there should be a no-frills...