Tuition is going up. Funding is going down. Competition for funding is going up. Don’t be down, though. Get up, and make yourself the best candidate. You can still get a full-ride, but you’re going to have to work harder than ever.  

Financial Aid: A Donor’s Market 
The amount of financial aid that goes unclaimed every year is startling, and it’s dropping. This, in a way, is good. Perhaps we can finally close the gap between funding offered and funding used. It’s also not the best news. Public grants are drying up (some, not all) or being used to keep universities open, professors paid, and buildings heated. With private money also on the decline, the financial aid market belongs to the donors. 

What That Means for You
It’s a simple lesson of supply versus demand. Recessions typically see more people going back to school with less money. Demand for money goes up. Recessions mean there’s less money. Supply goes down. Those who supply the funding are making tougher decisions about who gets it, so you have to leave no doubt in their minds that you’re the worthy candidate. 

Merit- and Need-Based 
Federal aid applications went up 10.4 percent in 2008 from 2007. As costs and unemployment rise, so does the number of those who qualify for need-based financial aid. Again, supply-and-demand rears its ugly head. The money for these scholarships may still be available, but fewer people were going for it. College costs more, too, which means that the same amount of money won’t stretch as far. On the other side of the fin. aid coin, merit-based scholarships saw a recent decline. To get merit-based aid, students will have to meet higher standards and stiffer competition. 

More Free Money 
Sallie Mae recently announced the opening of the new fin. aid season. The time to start applying is now. The more aid you apply for, the better your chances.