February 4, 2013

Straight Answers on Paying for College: Still Too Little, Too Late

For Parents, Straight Answers on Paying for College Are Still Too Little, Too Late 1

Nathaniel Brooks for The Chronicle

Victoria Pelliccia (left), a high-school senior, and her family, from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., tour the nearby State U. of New York at Albany. Her father, a retired teacher, has done a lot of research on what he might have to pay at various colleges, but he says, "I still don't have a clear answer."

By Beckie Supiano

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Families flummoxed about what college will cost them have more information at their disposal than ever before. The Internet offers tuition data, advice on saving and borrowing, and explanations of financial aid. New online calculators let families estimate their bottom-line price at any college. But not all the information out there is easy to make sense of, and some of it's no good. A big push from the federal government to provide better consumer information has not created better-informed