financial aid

Last month we wrote about the Get Schooled College Affordability Challenge, a national competition organized by MTV, the College Board, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to re-imagine and simplify the college financial-aid process by using digital tools. The submissions were winnowed...

The idea of need-blind admissions is noble: Offering qualified applicants admission to a university, regardless of their financial circumstances. But in too many cases, need-blind admissions mean young scholars are accepted to their dream schools under circumstances that would make attending financial suicide.

Applying for financial aid is a byzantine process that frustrates even the smartest whiz kid. Now there's a contest geared toward finding new ways toward simplifying the process -- and you get to vote on the idea you think is best. The Get Schooled College Affordability Challenge is a national...

When you're hoping for some help to pay for college you'll be in the crosshairs of scam artists looking to take advantage of your vulnerability. Tuition assistance, in the form of scholarships, is not only hard to get -- but competition can be fierce when annual tuition bills can run upward of...

A new study confirms that students who are accepted into elite colleges but attend less-selective ones end up earning just as much money as students who attend elite colleges.

It started Jan. 1 as one of the first challenges facing college-bound students: Filling out the form for FAFSA -- the Free Application for Federal Student Aid -- which can make that first college class seem like a breeze. Less than two months after the start of the student financial aid program's...

President Obama's new 2012 budget will seek to cut $100 billion in Pell Grant funding -- a plan that spells yet another blow to free federal aid for America's most financially needy college students. It's all part of a $3.73 trillion budget the Obama administration unveiled today for...

A front group representing for-profit colleges owned by Education Management Corp. and others has sued the federal government for "negligence and malpractice" following the release of a highly critical report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. The Coalition for...

College is expensive and financial aid funds are shrinking. But that doesn't mean that you have to pay a company to help find scholarships and grants. The Better Business Bureau says it's hearing complaints from college students and their parents about being bilked by companies that promise...

A new book, written by a pair of sociology professors, says most students aren't learning much of anything in college -- and they're not studying nearly as much as they once did. If fact, those students might even do better, academically, if they work during college.