How to afford college, no matter what your income

As a parent with children heading toward college in the near future, I have first-hand knowledge that parents are consumed with worry over college affordability, especially in this current economy. Parents have told me that lower income families are discouraging their students from applying to high cost colleges and schools away from home because they feel they could never afford it.

Meanwhile, middle and upper income families are preparing to tighten their belts and mortgage everything they own. Not wanting to take either approach to college financial planning, I sought expert advice. A phone conversation with Seamus Harreys, associate vice president and dean of enrollment and career services heading the Northeastern University's student financial services department, filled me in on the particulars of affording college at different income levels.