College Costs 101: Video Series

College Costs 101 Part 1: Merit Aid

19 min long

College planner Tom Kleese explains what merit aid is, how to get it and how it can make college more affordable.

Many college-bound students and families have never heard of merit aid, or aren’t sure how to get it and use it to save on college costs. Taking the time to understand the power of merit aid early on can help expand your college options and put you in the driver’s seat when it comes to college choices.

College Costs 101 Part 2: Cost of Attendance

19 min long

College planner Tom Kleese explains how to calculate your true cost of attendance, including all money aspects of the cost of college. In our work with college-bound families, many families aren’t sure how to get to an accurate prediction of what college will cost them. This video lesson will help!

College Costs 101 Part 3: Estimating Your Costs

28 min long

This video is for high school students and families who are trying to get a handle on what college will cost you as you’re looking at schools. This lesson is guided by Tom Kleese of OnCampus College Planning. This training video provides college-bound students and parents with helpful methods and tools for estimating your college costs using net price calculators and other online tools.

College Costs 101 Part 4: Models of Shared Responsibility

19 min long

College planner Tom Kleese created this video after having the same conversation with tons of high-school students and families. Many students and parents wanted to understand how to share costs among students and parents, how other folks split costs and the pros and cons of different approaches. This video lesson helps you go beyond “I want Justin to have some skin in the game” to a clear conversation about who pays for what and when.