College Cost Reduction Book Offers Tips Helping Families and Students Maximize Their Financial Aid

Online, December 19, 2011 (Newswire.com) - It is needless to say that the present hiring scenario in the United States is characterized by employers who prefer better educated individuals applicants who have earned a college degree to be exact. While a college degree does not always guarantee greater success, college graduates enjoy the advantage of landing a good paying job over their non-graduate counterparts.

Indeed, there is compelling evidence of how valuable college education can be. However, the soaring tuition rates are creating serious barriers. To hurdle this challenge, families and students turn to the financial aid process, thinking that it can readily assist them in achieving college cost reduction.

CollegeAidForMiddleClass.com, a team of advisors offering advice and services pertaining to acquiring college education, sheds light on the many issues surrounding the college education system, with emphasis on acquiring college grants. The team works primarily with families that have high school age children and are concerned with paying for college without going broke.

CollegeAidForMiddleClass.com features the book "College Aid for Middle Class America," which provides families and students insights to obtaining a college degree for less than they dreamed possible. The book is authored by Ryan Clark, MBA, CCPS, president and principal educational strategist of Clark College Funding, Inc., who holds designations from the National Association of College Financial Advisors and is a member of the National College Advocacy Group, and is a Certified College Planner.

College Aid for Middle Class America underscores, among other things, a common mistake of families seeking college cost reduction: thinking that the financial aid process that the U.S. Department of Education pushes for is fair.

"The college financial aid system was designed to expand access to a college degree to those who need it most. However, this system is out of date, and as college costs continue to skyrocket, the colleges are ultimately failing their primary mission," says Ryan Clark. "Unfortunately, our government continues to put more money into this flawed system, and the colleges are in no hurry to change the system's flaws."

CollegeAidForMiddleClass.com relates that in 2007 and in 2008, Congress reviewed the financial aid polices of many of the top universities and their lack of use of their multi-billion dollar endowment funds. Some members of Congress wanted to make the colleges and universities spend at least 5%of their endowment because the colleges were not spending the money. Senator Charles Grassley stated that college endowments have ballooned over the years and, more importantly, so has college tuition and college presidents' salaries.

According to CollegeAidForMiddleClass.com, the financial aid system of checks and balances in the Department of Education has worked for many years with the IRS and the CPAs as long as both sides follow the rules and guidelines. Families follow the legal loopholes that the Department of Education allows legally and ethically in order to get as much aid as possible.

CollegeAidForMiddleClass.com advises families to be aware that in fact, the president of the college and financial aid officers (FAO) are responsible for increasing net tuition revenue. The job of the FAO is to get the best student into the college for the least amount of money, which he or she does by not only looking into a family's income and assets, but also demanding intimate facts about a college applicant's personal life such as marital status, student driver's license, retirement accounts, home equity, recent medical problems, and outside scholarships.

Families and students needing the right information about college cost reduction should visit http://www.collegeaidformiddleclass.com and learn the ins and outs of obtaining college financial aid.