Ordinarily I’m not given to hyperbole; I’m more of a ‘net net’ kind of guy. Yet I truly believe we are on the verge of a serious national debate about the outrageous cost and diminishing quality of a higher education. It’s about time, no? In the past few months, we have seen MAJOR publications with headlines like “Drowning in Debt: The Emerging Student Loan Crisis”, “Is College Worth the Investment” (USA Today), “Cheaper Student Loans, But Shortage of Grants Likely” (US News & World Report) and “Universities on the Brink” (Forbes). The last two appeared earlier this week.

Net net: Higher education is a $420 billion per year business that until now has been cloaked in academic and ‘inside-the-beltway’ jargon. It is a subject that directly and personally affects all of us and it is one that I am committed to demystifying. Please check out my revamped website www.CollegePlanningAdvice.com where you will find more up-to-minute facts, analysis, resources and trends that will affect how you should plan and pay for college today and for the foreseeable future.

I look forward to helping you decipher and solve what is clearly one of the most pressing problems of our time.

Best,

Peter Ratzan