College tuition costs continue to rise and students and their families are looking to save every little bit of money they can. A surprising number of college tuition discounts are available to current and prospective students. Searching for these discounts online allows you to quickly find appropriate discounts from a variety of sources.
While you could just search for “tuition discounts,” a bit of focus will give you better results. First, check the financial aid website of the college(s) of your choice. Starting at the school’s homepage, there will either be a direct link to financial aid information, or it may be part of the school’s admissions site. Discounts may be available based on any number of factors. For instance, some schools offer discounts for:
-children and spouses of university employees
-children of alumni
-National Merit award winners
-spouses of current students
-high school or community college valedictorians
-siblings of current students
-older students
-and many other specific reasons
While some of these awards may be listed as scholarships, they’re automatically available if you meet the discount criteria.
Another good place to start a search is your state’s Department of Education website to see if it has created any special programs to bring down the price of tuition. For instance, the state of Michigan offers a Merit Award to high school students who have passed a state assessment test, discounting their college tuition costs. Maybe your state will have a special discount program for students returning to college later in life or students who are the first in their families to attend college. You’ll never know what may be out there until you look.
For students who would like to attend out-of-state schools, another source of tuition discounts are reciprocal agreements. In these plans, multiple states agree to allow students from any member state to attend a college in another state while paying in-state tuition rates. The New England states have created this type of program and most other reciprocal agreements are regional in nature. You can either check the Department of Education websites of states in which you are interested, search for the topic on university sites, or do a general search for reciprocal agreements.
While not a direct discount on the cost of tuition, taking advantage of available tax credits will have the same financial result. The Hope Scholarship allows taxpayers to deduct a portion of the cost of tuition and fees during the first two years of college. After that, taxpayers can use a Lifetime Learning Credit to deduct some tuition and fee costs for both part-time and full-time studies. You can find current details on these programs, and any other federal tuition credits that may be created in the future, at both the United States Department of Education website and the Internal Revenue Service website.
While looking for discounts to bring down the base price of tuition, don’t forget that searching online is also a great way to find more traditional scholarships. You can do a general search for scholarships by including a few keywords that relate to your interests and abilities, such as searching for “scholarships” and “engineering.” You can also check out the websites of national professional organizations and businesses because they will often create scholarships to give back to the community. With award criteria, deadlines and applications available on organizations’ websites, a few hours online could result in some much-needed money for college.
