Scott-Clayton recently co-authored a new paper on the costs of complexity in the college financial aid system.

FORBES

There certainly are ways to maximize your chances of college financial aid (without gaming the system), and some of them seem like secrets because so few people truly understand financial aid, or the broader area of college planning.

FORBES: NY Times Is Wrong About Maximizing College Aid Chances

The youth say their concerns about recent changes in financial aid, the educational system, healthcare reform, affirmative action, terrorism, unemployment and economic stability should be taken seriously.

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He steadily worked toward his goal of reforming the student financial system and played a valuable role in nearly every major federal student-aid program in our nation's history, from Pell Grants in 1972 to the Academic Competitiveness and SMART Grants for high-achieving low-income students in 2006.

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Since then, two of those countries, Latvia and Cyprus, have needed financial aid from the EU and International Monetary Fund, while Slovenia is restructuring its ailing banking system to avoid requesting a bailout.

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However you look on financial aid as philanthropy or as price discrimination it behooves you to understand how the system works.

FORBES: Paying for College: How the Financial Aid Formulas Work