Depending on your college plans there are a few different tricks you can use to pay for college and graduate without the shackles of decades of debt. Here are some nifty (ya, nifty) pieces of info we picked up in the news recently that you can use to help pay for college. Why share? Because knowledge is power, and we’re always hungry for a triple-decker power sandwich with extra knowledge sauce (no pickles for me). So check this out (refreshments to be served following the blogpost)…

Some reports claim that the average rate of tuition increase, at 4.3 percent (totaling $1,081), is the lowest it’s been in ten years. For most people this is a small consolation. According to the College Board, the average tuition and fees at private four-year colleges were $25,143 in the 2008-2009 school year.   Mind you, this is just an average. Some schools have actually decreased their tuition. If this peaks your interest, you might want to peep on Davis and Elkins College. This school actually dropped tuition by, wait for it….a whopping 1 percent! Incoming students will now pay $200 dollars less than before, almost enough for a month’s worth of groceries. William Jessup University lowered its tuition by 2.5 percent. There you can go from paying $20,480 to $19,968, letting you keep $512 in your pocket. Other schools, like Merrimack College and Yeshiva University have frozen tuition. Also making an effort is Boston College and Boston University who have allegedly raised tuition at the lowest rates in more than 30 years, by 2.8 percent and 3.8 percent respectively. These may seem like small gestures at a time when American’s are facing one of the worst economic crises in history. While the lowered tuition might not be the tipping point for you, if it comes down to the wire between two schools, it’s good to know who is making an effort to consider struggling students and their families.

Maybe you’ve gotten into one of the pricier private schools and are hell-bent on going. It’s just that even with the student loan, the financial aid, and the parental help, you’re still in the the red. When your parents hook you up with cash for college its a sponsorship of sorts. You’re promoting them by looking good. Have you ever thought about asking strangers to sponsor you? Say hello to UniThrive. A few Harvard grads have branched out of the flesh and blood college patronage traditionalism with this fresh idea. UniThrive is a non-profit website that connects alumni and students to help lower the costs of education. Alumni who are always being solicited by their alma maters to make donations can now see the direct result of their contribution by providing students with zero-interest student loans. It’s also a great way to connect with alumni and build a network as you prepare for your future. On the site, students post photos and biographical information, and they can request up to $2,000.

There are lots of little tidbits that can facilitate paying for college. So check back here for more helpful hints and useful info.

One of the most irritating questions a fresh faced college graduate can hear is, “what are you are you going to do next?”. Before you can even celebrate, there is one word that everyone keeps whispering in your ear: JOBS JOBS JOBS. The second you graduate, jobs are supposed to throw themselves at you like desperate freshmen. Unfortunately for the recent graduates, the scenario has changed. Frankly, in this job market, our chances are better at taking up a career in exotic dancing or becoming a professional Quidditch player than getting a nice, entry-level marketing position.

Below is a list of the 5 worst schools to graduate from in a recession, based on the starting salary of graduates and their overall cost of tuition. We added some alliteration, just for fun.

Morehead State University ($34,800) State school students’ salaries suffer

Black Hills State University ($35,300) Poor payroll post-graduation

Colorado College ($38,500.00) Liberal learning = less loot

University of Alabama Tuscaloosa ($41,300) Alabamians aren’t always affluent

Ivy League Brown University ($56,200) Ivy income isn’t immune

It’s Not Too Late… But It’s Getting Close.

By Kevin Ladd, Vice President, Scholarships.com

Each year at about this time, I see students, desperate for financial aid of any kind, begin to despair juuuust a bit. “This scholarship is due in two days… I can’t put together a application/winning essay that quickly!” or something along those lines. Others complain that the deadlines have passed for many of the scholarships for which they might have applied. There is only really one solution for this and that is for you to begin searching for scholarships earlier in the year.

No matter how much or how hard you lobby, you won’t get scholarship providers to change their dates to suit you, so do the only thing you can and begin looking for money in January, if not sooner, of each year you are in college until either you finish school or no longer need money, whichever comes first. Remember that as you go into winter break this year. January 1st = FAFSA + Financial Aid Search.

Now, let’s look at your options for the coming academic year. There are still quite a few scholarships left out there with a deadline between now and the beginning of the academic year 2009/2010, but they are going to be far less plentiful. Your best bet to find as many as possible, as quickly as possible is to use a free scholarship search, like Scholarships.com. Your objective at this point is to find scholarships to improve your financial situation and then separate those whose deadlines have passed from those that haven’t and decide from there which ones work best for you. Here’s how your current approach should differ from, say, a January approach.

1. In January, you are looking for the biggest payoff and best fit. You want to apply to the scholarship that offers a large award, but that you are confident you have a good chance at winning. If it’s May, June or July, though, you need to sort your list of scholarships by date. The most important thing right now is that the scholarship is still available. Look at all those that are available and start on the ones due within the week first and work your way toward those with later deadlines.

2. In January, you probably have some time to research and prioritize the many scholarship applications you have in front of you. It’s much easier to be able to take the time to make sure you follow the rules and don’t hurt your chances by omitting a requested item or something of that nature. If it’s May, June or July, time is no longer on your side, but you can still find money for school. Remember, though, even though it is late in the year and time is short, you still need to make sure you follow the instructions of the scholarship provider or you are probably just wasting your time applying. You will have fewer scholarships to choose from at this time, and the one upside to that is that prioritizing should be a lot quicker.

These are just a few ways you can improve your chances of balancing everything you are trying to do at the end of your high school career and still find money for college. For more, check out http://www.scholarships.com.

Kevin Ladd is a Vice President at Scholarships.com. His essays and tips have been published on many websites, as well as print, video and audio form. He has been interviewed and/or featured on CollegeWeekLive, Kim Stezala’s book, “Scholarships 101: The Real-World Guide to Getting Cash for College” and the website for the National Scholarship Providers of America, among others. Kevin has been in the business of helping students find money for college for over ten years. Check out some of Kevin’s other musings and myriad other financial aid information resources at http://www.scholarships.com.