College Bound Strategies is a guide for every parent and student seeking answers about education after high school. This guide addresses the values, advantages, and challenges of different higher education options. Once a family and student evaluate their options, the guide discusses what students must do in the application process to get accepted. The guide takes a unique approach to breaking down the concerns surrounding paying for college: how schools differ in distributing financial aid, minimizing student debt, and how higher education may be less expensive than conventional wisdom leads us to believe. Students and families can then evaluate schools based on what will best help a student to thrive and reduce the effect that cost has on those decisions. Whether a family is looking to do-it-yourself or seeking assistance, the guide provides a list of resources, and some guidance to using those resources, to help successfully navigate through higher education.