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Saw this on the web and thought it might be helpful:

TOP 5 TIPS FOR FINANCIAL AID SEEKERS (from Fidelity.com)

1. Don't let high income deter you
Parents with the most education (and presumably the highest income) are the least likely to apply for financial aid, according to a new National Center for Education Statistics survey of families with children who were high school seniors in 2004. The trend continues today: 54% of families earning $125,000 to $250,000 don't even bother to apply for aid, according to College Planning ABC.

But the assumption that high income will mean you aren't eligible for aid doesn't hold true. More than 50 colleges have either capped or eliminated loans for students.

Williams College in Massachusetts - where tuition, fees, room and board totaled $49,880 last year - awarded aid to 67% of applicants in the current freshman class from households earning more than $100,000. Williams offered an average award of $35,434 to families earning up to $125,000 and $22,199 to those above $125,000, according to the school's financial aid office. Most of the aid Williams offered last year was in the form of grants and scholarships - only about 4% was in work-study.

But here's the downside of the Great Recession: Even a well-funded school like Williams, which has an endowment of $1.4 billion, is cutting back. Early this year it announced it would end its 2-year-old policy of replacing loans with outright grants in aid packages for students entering the school in 2011.
2. Choose the right schools to target
Some schools can offer more aid than others, so try to gauge the potential for aid at each school your child is interested in. To do that, research the health of a school's endowment and ask the admissions or financial aid office three things:
1 What percentage of aid applicants receive assistance?
2 What percentage of aid is in grants versus loans?
3 If they give to higher-income families?
For state schools, do your best to find out how the school has been affected by the recession - and how it will be affected in the upcoming fiscal year as states continue to tighten their belts. Some states are raising tuition, some are cancelling programs and cutting staff, and two states, Michigan and New Mexico, have made deep cuts to need-based financial aid. On the other hand, the University of Virginia is offering aid to 43% more students in the current school year and has launched a fundraising campaign specifically for financial aid.

Private colleges have more flexibility to boost aid by drawing on large endowments or delaying capital improvements. In 2008, private institutions awarded incoming freshman aid amounting to a 53.5% tuition discount, according to a survey by the National Association of College and University Business Officers.

Parents might say offering that much aid is the least they can do - the average annual tuition and fees at private four-year colleges was $26,273 last year, according to the College Board. At public schools, the cost averaged $7,020 for in-state students and $11,528 for out-of-state students.


3. Get creative about scholarship sources
Families needing to fill in the gaps beyond college and federal grants have a plethora of scholarship options. These awards often draw on very specific criteria, so be prepared to do your homework and stay on top of different application deadlines.

Websites like Fastweb.com can streamline your search by mining the scholarship universe based on hundreds of different inputs you select. An informed search could turn up a scholarship like the one for left-handers at Pennsylvania's Juniata College or another for writing the best essay on Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead."

Beyond the Internet, think about tapping on-campus scholarship resource centers and financial aid offices in specific departments or professional schools. UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, for example, awards more than 70 scholarships to students majoring in one of its programs



4. Negotiate a better deal
You can't bargain down the price of tuition, but you can use one school's package to bargain with another school.

The initial award isn't the final story - you may be able to negotiate a better deal by telling your child's first-choice school about scholarship offers from similar schools. And don't be afraid to revisit an aid package if your financial situation has changed dramatically. With unemployment the highest in 27 years, schools are often willing to adjust an award if provided the proper documentation.

The tough economy has also increased the likelihood of "summer melt" when incoming freshman decide at the last minute not to attend college, putting their aid package back into the pool. Stay in touch with your school's financial aid office over the summer to find out about newly available aid.



5. Consider options beyond aid
when the aid packages fall short, high earning families may be able to save in other ways. The at a path as a determines the expected family contribution and given school -- but you don't simply right now inquire about the availability works in program office at a little off and make you there.
In addition to 529 plan and Coverdell education savings oh assets and the parents qualified and may be eligible to pay for college costs-- but don't even think about going this route unless you're well on your way to adding a state retirement and some.
If you do you have to take out loans, federal Stafford loans issued students name until graduation.