Families need assistance in planning for the costs of higher education. Some suggestions are offered, including question the premise that parents will finance one year's education out of one year's income; create a national college savings plan, etc. (MLW)

The need for advance planning to finance college studies is addressed. It is suggested that financial aid officers should stop thinking about this year's family income and current assets as a pool of resources to be tapped to pay for this year's parental contribution to college costs. Instead, income and assets might be viewed as indicators of a…

The question of whether the availability of need-based student financial aid reduces the applicant families' incentives to save and work was assessed. Changes in the need-based aid system are also suggested. Need-based aid systems compute a family's ability to pay for college from information on the family's income and assets at the time a student…