2. Show Me the Money

Among the elite private schools, tuition is driven by what the market will bear. It’s that simple. They charge a higher tuition because they can.

—Edward R. Fiske, author of Fiske Guide to Colleges

When teenagers are looking for colleges, the price is often not something they think much about.

That’s why I wasn’t surprised when a mom told me about the experience of her daughter’s boyfriend, who was thrilled to get an acceptance letter from the University of Notre Dame.

The teenager, who was a phenomenal student, was shocked at how little money Notre Dame gave him to defray the cost. The future journalism major was even more worried because his parents weren’t going to provide much financial help to this young man, who now assumed he will have to juggle multiple campus jobs with a tough course load and graduate with an excessive amount of debt.