How to Pay for College – A Library How-To Handbook

How to Pay for College by the Editors of the American Library Association is a good reference for figuring out how to pay for a college education. If you or your kids want to go to college, this is a must-read for information very relevant towards paying for a very expensive education.

Book Description
“Whether you're a high school student, already in college, a parent, or an adult returning to school, this guide can help you thoroughly and easily research all available financial aid options, narrow your search to those that are a good fit for you, and make the best attempt possible at applying for them. Within these pages, find ways to plan and save for the high cost of college tuition; how to look for schools that are less expensive yet offer everything an expensive school might; when and how to fill out forms for loans, grants, and scholarships; how to get the government to help you; tips on applications and essays; and much more. This unique guide emphasizes the help that your local library can be in this process, using its reference materials, the Internet, and the advice of experienced researchers. This is a book that can help change your life.” – How to Pay for College


My Thoughts
How to Pay for College is something that all high school seniors and their parents should read. It is really directed more towards this group rather than those already in college or adults who have already earned a degree of some sort.

The knowledge included in the book is basic and gives references for more information on subjects. That doesn’t make it a bad reference book though, because it does give good information. It just isn’t going to give any big secrets away for being able to find money out of nowhere to go to somewhere like Harvard.

If you already have a Bachelor’s degree you are quite excluded on both learning anything from the book and finding out how to pay for college for another degree, unless of course you need information on taking out student loans. Therefore, if you fit into this category, I would not recommend the book to you.

Overall though, I think this is a very good reference book for high school seniors or juniors who don’t know anything at all about paying for college. The parents would also benefit from reading it because they could learn that their kids could receive grants or other type of scholarships to help them pursue a higher education.



* Thank you to the publisher of How to Pay for College, Skyhorse Publishing, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.