financial aid

As many as 900 colleges are pushing students into using payment cards with hefty fees to get to their financial aid, according to new report. Colleges and banks rake in millions from the accounts, often through secretive deals and sometimes in apparent violation of federal law.

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.

Here's a higher education shocker: Thanks to tuition hikes at California's state universities on one hand, and Ivy League financial aid policies on the other, attending Harvard is actually the better deal for the Golden State's middle-class students. And that's not just a West Coast phenomenon.

You don't have to pay a fortune, or rely on financial aid, to attend a top-quality private college or university. These 10 have the lowest sticker price among Kiplinger's best values in private universities and liberal arts colleges.

Oct. 29 is the deadline for U.S. colleges to put "net price calculators" on their websites -- tools intended to estimate the real cost of attending for each specific student. But the most widely adopted calculator is inaccurate -- to the tune of thousands of dollars, experts say.

You thought it was your kid's SAT score that prevented him from getting admitted to the college of his dreams, but it may have been your credit score. More and more colleges are looking for students who can pay full tuition, and setting the admissions bar higher for those who need financial aid.

Worried about how to pay for college? The Princeton Review this week released its financial-aid ratings for more than 600 U.S. colleges. Find out which ones came out on top.

With college costs rising, it's more important than ever for students to be financially savvy. Here are 15 things you need to know to graduate with a bank account at the top of your class.

More than 1 million of America's poorest college students may have to take out bigger loans, find another way to pay tuition, or drop out in 2012, if Republican budget cuts are passed that shrink the government's Pell grant program. But supporters are mobilizing in an online rally Monday for "Save Pell Day."

In today's tough economy, a college degree is even more necessary -- though it's no guarantee of a job. But with tuition costs going through the roof, what's a frugal student to do? Try getting a deep discount on your degree with the help of the local community college.