In 1965 a year at Harvard University cost $2700: today it runs over $44,000. Ten years from now, the average private college will cost $57,875 for one year -- an impossibly expensive figure for an average middle-class family. How many couples can save up $231,500 per child within the next ten years?

Edward Clarke, senior partner of the Lohengrin Group and financial advisor, says he can offer hope to these families.

Clarke is one of several inventors of a new software program called "College Advantage," that can literally find money for college that you do not realize you already have. The new program also helps you find the best college for your child, based on her ambitions and academic abilities.

Clarke's company here in Baton Rouge is one of only thirty-five in the United States to offer College Advantage.

Finding Financial Aid For College

Although the price of higher education has risen to astronomical levels, Clarke says the way to make it affordable is to make the rules of federal financial aid work for your particular family.

"Most people don't realize that colleges have a strange way of pricing themselves," Clarke said. "The 'sticker price' is just a number. The actual price of college is based on your ability to pay for it under the federal government's rules."

The biggest mistake families make is to assume that they cannot qualify for financial aid. Clarke points to statistics that 69% of students at four-year public universities and 84% at private institutions receive some form of financial aid in the form of grants, scholarships, work-study programs and/or low-interest loans.

Using factors such as your age, income level, retirement savings and home equity, College Advantage calculates what the federal government expects your family to pay. It can also help you legally reposition your assets so that this "expected family contribution" decreases.

However, filling out the government's dreaded "Free Application for Federal Student Aid Form" (FAFSA) is just as difficult and time-consuming as working through the long version of an IRS return. Most families make at least several costly mistakes on the FAFSA. If you sign up for "College Advantage," a professional will fill out your FAFSA. Afterwards, Clarke helps you reposition your assets to qualify for a better government aid package.

For example, one family may qualify for more aid if they take out a home equity loan and put the loan money into an annuity. It may be advantageous for another family to move stock funds into IRAs. Clarke says the average family using the College Advantage package will save over $10,000.

Parents are often surprised that certain private colleges will actually cost them less than a public university, Clarke says. Keep in mind that the government's "expected family contribution" is the same for whatever college you choose.

This means you will pay $25,000 at to hunt out and gain acceptance for new global delivery locations, and how to structure deals to fairly share global currency, global inflation and geopolitical risks.''

Within the deal and sourcing process, providers did not identify any positive contribte U costs $28,000 a year, your financial aid will drop to $3,000. Each college will offer your child a different mix of loans, grants, work-study programs and scholarships. Of course, the best packages provide more aid in the form of grants and scholarships, not loans.

Finding the Best College Deal for Your Child

Working through numbers and forms is just one aspect of the College Advantage package. The other aspect is finding the best college at the best price for your child based his individual abilities and ambitions.

"Most people have the mistaken idea that colleges only give scholarships to athletes and students with superior academic qualifications," Clarke says. However, certain colleges are looking for certain kinds of students for a variety of reasons. For example, some colleges want students from every state in the union. If you are from a small state with a sparse population such as Louisiana, your child will have a better chance for admission than if he comes from a big state like New York. If your child's is the only application from Louisiana, then the college may offer him a scholarship or grant, even if his qualifications are less than stellar. Colleges have many other such niches -- they may need swimmers, rugby players or more female engineering majors.

Certain extra-curricular activities will carry more weight in the application process, Clarke says. For example, admissions officers prefer students who volunteer for charities because this indicates that they will more likely donate to the college after they graduate. When you sign up for College Advantage, you get advice on how to help your child choose extra-curricular activities to better gain acceptances at her top college choices.

College Advantage software also can search through a database of hundreds of colleges to find the best match for your child, using your child's preferences, academic record, extra-curricular activities, and test scores from the Scholastic Achievement Tests (SAT) and American College Test (ACT).

Clarke said that ideally he likes to start the College Advantage program when a student is a sophomore or junior in high school, although earlier is better. Once you sign up for the program, your financial planner keeps helping you with financial aid until your child graduates, and that includes filling out the annual FAFSA and appealing any financial aid package, if necessary.

Source: Lohengrin Group

Web site: http://www.lohengringroup.com/