Good news: according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers, tuition discounting hit an all-time high in 2014, with many believing it is a trend likely to continue. A survey of 411 private, non-profit institutions showed that the average discount rate* for first-time, full-time freshmen hit 48% in the 2014-2015 school year, and was over 41% for all undergraduates.

Strategies for using your 529 savings plan to pay for college expenses once the bills start showing up.

College admissions officers have a couple of important metrics on which they’re evaluated: selectivity and yield. Selectivity is a concept you’re probably already familiar with: What percent of applicants are admitted? In the admissions officer’s world, the lower, the better. There are two ways to admit a low percentage of applicants: Get a lot of applications, and admit very few of them. Of course, in admitting few students, the college then runs the risk of not enough actually enrolling.

An overview of 529 plans and how they work.