PREFACE INTRODUCTION: The Black Box CHAPTER 1: The Big Picture About Language and Philosophy What Is Financial Aid? Why Can''t Everyone Pay the Same Price? Why Else Do Different People Pay Different Prices? Statistics How Many Students Pay the Sticker Price? How Much Do Students Pay? Are College Prices Really Skyrocketing? How Do Students Pay the Prices They Are Charged? Economics and Finance Why Are College Prices Set That Way? Why Do Colleges Charge So Much? Isn''t the High Cost of College Related to Wasteful Spending? Is College Worth It? CHAPTER 2: The Details The Application Form How Does One Apply for Financial Aid? What Do Colleges Do with All That Data? What Was FAFSA Simplification? What Happens If You Live with a Single Parent, or If Your Parents Are Divorced? Types of Aid What Are the Different Types of Need-Based Financial Aid? What About Loans as a Form of Financial Aid? What Is Merit-Based Aid? What Is the Net Price, and How Is It Determined? How Is All of This Reported in a Financial Aid Award Letter? College Financial Aid Strategies How Do Colleges Decide What Forms of Financial Aid to Offer? What Do Colleges Mean When They Say They Are Need-Blind or Meet Full Need? How Do Colleges Determine How Much Institutional Grant Aid to Award? Forecasting Your Costs How Can You Know How Much You Have to Pay Before You Apply to College? How Will Your Costs Change During the Time You Are Enrolled? CHAPTER 3: The Strategy College Cost and College Choice Should College Decisions Be Based on Which Schools Offer the Most Financial Aid? Are Public Institutions the Only Affordable Options? Does It Always Make Sense to Choose the Less Expensive Institution? Does It Make Sense to Go to a Community College for Two Years and Then Transfer? Is It Better to Apply Early Decision? Should You Apply for Financial Aid at a Need-Aware School? Does It Make Sense to Major Only in Business or STEM Fields? Rearranging Your Finances to Generate More Financial Aid Should You Save Money in a College Account or a Retirement Account? Taking Financial Aid into Account, Is It Better to Invest in Your Own Home or in Other Forms of Assets? Is It Better to Hold Assets in an Account Owned by the Parent or the Student? When Is a Gap Year a Good Idea? Other Ways to Help Make College Affordable How Much Can Outside Scholarships Help? Will Taking AP / Community-College Classes Help Reduce the Cost? Will It Matter If the Student''s Grandparents Want to Help Pay the Bill? Are There Tax Breaks That Help Make College More Affordable? Borrowing and Saving Does It Make Sense for Students to Borrow to Go to College? What Options Do Students Have in Borrowing? What Are the Available Student Loan Repayment Options? What Options Do Parents Have to Borrow? Should You Invest in a 529 Plan? What If You Want to Go to Graduate School? CHAPTER 4: The Fixes (?) College Affordability Why Is It So Hard to Make College More Affordable? Why Can''t Colleges Spend Less? Shouldn''t College Be Free? Would More Competition Help? How Do Other Countries Deal with the Problem of Affordability? Student Loans Does the Borrowing System Help Students? How Serious Is the Student Debt Problem, and Can We Solve It? Price Transparency When Will You Know What You Need to Know About Price? Can We Make Prices More Transparent? Will It Help to Make Prices More Transparent? CHAPTER 5: How to Navigate an Imperfect System ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INDEX.