4. Who Gets Financial Aid?

This (financial aid) formula that purports to show you how much you can responsibly spend is produced by the federal government, which has the largest debt in the history of the world. It’s like asking Cher how much plastic surgery you can have before it looks tacky.

—Zac Bissonnette, author of Debt-Free U

How rich is too rich to qualify for financial aid?

A mother who is a judge and a Harvard graduate once asked me that question. She and her husband make a good living—much better than good actually—and their son attends a private high school. She doesn’t feel like she’s wealthy enough to underwrite an exorbitantly expensive college education, but she wonders if colleges will lump her family into that too-rich-to-help category.