One of the complaints I hear most often, and which I see posted most frequently on Web stories about financial aid, is a version of this: "If you're poor, you get all the free money you could possibly want. If you're rich, you already have all the money you need or want. But if you're in that nice medium called middle class you get screwed right out of your socks," which was posted last year at USNews.com by "College studen" (sic) of Texas. (I'm assuming CS simply mistyped and knows how to spell the word student.)

Is there any evidence supporting this?

A soon-to-be-published book by a Princeton sociologist found that low-income minority students (mainly African-Americans and Hispanics) who have good grades and test scores appear to have an edge over whites and Asians with similar grades and test scores (but not necessarily other factors such as extracurricular activities or recommendations, which were not considered in this study) at getting into the elite private colleges that tend to give out the most scholarships.

But by U . S . News's count, only 54 of the 5,000-plus American colleges and universities promise to provide enough scholarships to meet all students' financial need. And those colleges give plenty of aid to the far greater numbers of middle- and upper-middle-class students whom they admit. Harvard, for example, charges no more than 10 percent of a family's income for all those who earn $180,000 or less.

A few dozen other schools promise to meet the need of students from low-income families only, typically cutting their generosity off at annual incomes of about $40,000.

Operating on the theory that it takes a thief to steal from a thief, a group of Internet scammers has been targeting students who illegally download music, books, and video.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has reported on an apparently bogus collections agency that sent out letters to Bucknell students demanding $500 to settle the students' alleged illegal downloads.

That's a new twist on an old strategy of targeting college students. Prosecutors say there are at least six common scams students should watch out for:

Many students say they don't want to take part-time jobs when they start college because they'll need all their time to study (or party).

But new research confirms what parents and counselors have been saying for years: Part-time campus jobs not only raise cash but can help raise students' grade-point averages.

After interviewing and examining data on hundreds of undergraduates from 1996 through 2004, researchers found that the average GPA of freshmen at four-year universities who worked between one and 20 hours a week was 3.13. Those who didn't work at all had GPAs averaging just 3.04.

"Are grandparents who are paying the tuition of a grandchild eligible to claim the new American Opportunity Tax Credit" of up to $2,500? —Ken F.

Only the taxpayer who takes the student as an exemption on the 1040 tax form can collect the credit, the IRS says. If Ken can declare the student as a dependent (in other words, if the student has lived with him at least half the year and if Ken supplied at least half of the student's support), he can get a big tax break when he files his taxes next year.

But if Ken can't, then his kids, or his student grandchild, could collect the credit, the IRS says. In fact, even if the students or parents don't spend a penny of their own for tuition or books, they could still collect the tax credit. For example, Uncle Sam could send a $1,000 check to piggyback on Grandpa's check of $2,500. Or Ken's kids or grandkids could reduce their tax bills by $2,500 if Ken contributed $4,000 toward tuition and books. That means the IRS could turn a $2,500 gift into $3,500. Or it could turn a $4,000 gift into $6,500!

"My daughter is a senior. We financed her first two years using the Parent PLUS Loan, and she took a Sallie Mae private loan out for her third year, with us the cosigners. Well, this year, we do not qualify as a cosigner for this loan again. Neither my parents or my wife's, our brothers or sisters qualify as cosigners either because they are retired and living on Social Security, or have job loss problems or large debt. We are searching for some kind of financing that she can qualify for. She is unemployed but is still looking. Do you have any other options, suggestions?"
 —Matt F., "Aging Parent," 8/10/09

Lots of students and parents like Matt are panicking right now because they simply don't have enough money to cover the college bills that are about to come due.

"My 29-year-old son has an associate degree in computer science but wants to go back and get a bachelor's degree in childhood education. He works a full -time job and plans to attend college part time. His income is under $30,000 per year. He's single with no dependents. Are there any grants or loans he might qualify for? Thanks for any advice on this."
—Sharon R.

Millions of unemployed and underemployed adults are thinking about going back to college to improve their job prospects in this rotten economy. One of the many strange secrets of financial aid is that the amount of money available depends on what degree students aim at. For example, government agencies, charities, and universities give very few grants to graduate students hoping for an MBA or other professional degree. They figure these students will earn enough with these degrees to be able to repay big loans.

Today could be a day of liberation for millions of college graduates who are struggling with college loan payments. Thanks to the federal government's new Income Based Repayment Plan, which takes effect today, many debtors can cut their payments on their federal student loans to less than 15 percent of their incomes.

The U.S. Department of Education's official site about IBR is a great place to start, but anyone thinking of applying for the program should consider a few details: