Now it the time to take action!!

Michael Parra loved the University of Delaware the moment he stepped on its campus, so much that the aspiring civil engineer slapped a college sticker on his mother's bumper and sent in a deposit not long after he was admitted.

But after he learned that he would be $60,000 in debt by the end of his college years, he scuttled the plan and signed up with cheaper George Mason University, joining thousands of other high school seniors across the country who had to dial down their dreams before last week's college response deadline.

"We just don't have the money," said Parra, 17, who attends Wakefield High School in Arlington County.

That's a refrain muttered across countless dinner tables this year, from those seating single mothers such as Parra's who work two jobs to those with parents who started pouring money into college savings plans as soon as their children were born.

When a college counselor laid out the financial aid Delaware offered Parra, the student realized that half the package was loans, not grants as he initially thought. It wouldn't work, Parra decided. George Mason will pay most of his expected $8,000 annual in-state tuition, and he'll somehow come up with money for room and board.

Families who have seen retirement funds shrivel but make too much to qualify for need-based aid are nervous, too.

With Friday being the date for students to select the college to attend many students have been forced to make adjustments to their life plans based of academic financing. Is this do to lack of planning? Lack of advisement? Lack of research? of lack of knowledge on the college finance acquisition.

I'm sorry to say that all of the above are to blame. We have not because we ask not and we ask not because we know not. Even in a time of academic slow down you can still attend college for at no cost. You just have to do some planning and strategic thinking.

Think about your unique characteristics and how those can be used to attract funding. See in areas not looked into and with a bit or research the funding will flow.

All of this information and more can be acquired at www.freecollegeeducation.com