As the economy sours and tuition at four-year schools rises, more and more students are considering low-cost public community colleges. Counselors across the country warn, however, that sometimes students get what they pay for.

Choosing a two-year college could actually harm students' long-term prospects. Research has shown that community colleges, overall, do a poor job of getting students into four-year schools. In a 2008 paper, Harvard professor Bridget Terry Long found that, among similar students, those who chose two-year colleges were less likely to get a bachelor's degree than those who went straight to a four-year college. Since employers tend to pay those who actually earn a degree more than those who've had only a few years of college, saving a few thousand dollars on tuition when you are 18 might end up costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars over your lifetime if you get discouraged in community college and don't persevere to a bachelor's.

VIDEO: HOW TO GET IN: Santa Monica College

You can mess up in your freshman year of high school and still get into one of the top-ranked—and comparatively affordable—public universities, says Theodore Spencer, executive director of the University of Michigan's Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

But to separate yourself out from the 50 percent of applicants who get rejected from Michigan, you'd better buckle down and get good grades as a sophomore and junior. And you need to write a great essay explaining the lapse, he says.

Spencer spills other secrets of winning admission to elite public colleges in this video:

VIDEO: University of Michigan Admissions Officer

Spencer says many students don't realize:

Our current economy has made my how-to-pay-for-college conversations with parents a challenge. As an enrollment administrator for a selective liberal arts college, I'm used to talking with parents who are anxiety-ridden about whether their child will get into the "right" school. But the apprehension about getting into college is nothing compared with the worry—approaching despair—over how to pay for college.

Unfortunately, too many people—especially families with younger children—believe that saving for college requires a sacrifice they're unable to make. They're reading news stories that project the cost of a college education 10, 15, or 20 years from now—numbers that are so astronomical you might think they were a line item in NASA's budget. Some analysts are saying that to be able to cover the cost of college then, you need to start saving $500, $750, or even $1,000 a month per child now. Well, the families I talked with can't spare that—especially the family with triplets!

Each year, the leading experts in college admissions gather at the annual convention for the National Association for College Admission Counseling. This year's convention was held last week in Seattle, and U.S. News Senior Writer Kim Clark took a video camera along.

Here's some of the great advice she got from the experts there:

Early Decision vs. Early Action
Quick Tip: You might have a better chance of getting in if you apply early.

Conversations at summertime gatherings this year seem gloomier than in years past. Whether people talk about the economy, the Middle East, or the other challenges that will be faced by whoever wins the upcoming presidential election, discussions are marked by frustration and angst. But when friends visiting from out of state asked me about the college selection process, their anxiety was palpable. Because I've worked in admissions and enrollment at six selective institutions over the past 30 years, the topic is a frequent one when friends and family are in town.

Our former neighbors' oldest, a boy soon to be a senior in high school, was beginning the college selection process, and the whole family was almost paralyzed with anxiety. The crux of their worries? Their son is not a straight-A student. They read U.S. News, and because so many of the stories there focus on the increasing and incredible competitiveness of admission to Ivy and near-Ivy institutions, this family seems nearly in panic about the son's chances of getting into the right college.