The Princeton Review’s "Paying for College" 2025 Edition is Now Out
NEW YORK, September 17, 2024 /— The Princeton Review®, known for its education services and resources that help students research, gain admission to, and get financial aid from colleges, today released the new edition of its annually updated book Paying for College: Everything You Need to Maximize Financial Aid and Afford College (Penguin Random House, 2025 Edition, September 17, 2024, $25.99).
Authored by Kalman A. Chany, one of the nation's leading experts on college funding, with Geoff Martz, the book presents Chany's advice for parents planning to pay for their child's college education, whether they are parents of newborns, parents of college-bound teens, or parents of students already in college.
The book has chapters on long-term as well as short-term strategies for paying for college. Other sections provide rundowns on how the financial aid process works, how to decipher aid award offers, how to find the best education loans, and how to manage repayment options and debt.
Since 1992 when the first edition of Paying for College was published, this book's most distinctive feature has been its annually updated guidance on completing the two most important aid application forms. These are the U.S. Department of Education's FAFSA® (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) which virtually all financial aid applicants must submit, and the College Board's CSS Profile®, a financial aid application that hundreds of selective colleges require. Both forms have dozens of questions requiring information about family income, assets, and other factors that are used to determine aid eligibility and need.
For 32 years, Paying for College has been the only annual guide to financial aid that offers such timely and specific guidance on these two key application forms. Chany's advice in the new edition of book is even more noteworthy due to the sweeping changes that went into effect on the 2024–2025 FAFSA as part of the U.S. Department of Education's “FAFSA Simplification." Chany who predicted in August 2023 that the changes would be "tectonic" describes this year's troubled rollout of the FAFSA as "little short of a disaster." He says for most applicants, the so-called "simplified" FAFSA is not shorter, and that “the effect of these changes is unfortunately anything but simple."
Chany explains some of the ways income, assets and other factors affect aid eligibility differently under the new formulas and aid delivery system. An “Old” vs “New” comparison chart in Paying for College lists more than 20 of the key changes, many of which will significantly affect aid applicants—some positively and some negatively.
In addition to providing a sample 2024–2025 FAFSA with line-by-line advice on completing it, Chany offers guidance on the 2025–2026 FAFSA (which the U.S. Department of Education announced won't be released until December 2024). However, he notes that he does not expect to see smooth sailing when it is released. On a related note, nor were the majority of administrators The Princeton Review surveyed in July/August for its 2024 College Administrator Summer Survey optimistic about the release of the 2025–2026 FAFSA. Asked about their level of confidence that the release will be "timely and smooth," 70% of the administrators gauged their confidence in that happening as "low" or "very low."
Paying for College also includes:
- Recommendations for what the student and what the parent can do to maximize aid eligibility
- Information on state aid for college—a contact list of all 50 state agencies overseeing such aid
- Guidance for comparing aid award offers and appealing for more aid if needed
- Information on education loans, loan payment options, and advice on managing education loan debt
- Advice for applicants in specific situations including parents who are single, separated or divorced or in blended families, as well as advice for students who are independent, international or older than the traditional student.
But wait, there's more:
Purchasers of Paying for College who register at PrincetonReview.com/guidebooks can access free content from The Princeton Review. This includes late-breaking updates about 2025–2026 financial aid. (Icons in the margins of the book flag topics that were pending as the book went to press for which readers can check updates on PrincetonReview.com.) Registered book purchasers can also take a full-length practice SAT® or ACT® online and access the company's college profiles and college rankings in The Best 390 Colleges at PrincetonReview.com.
Over the years, Paying for College has been recommended by reviewers and personal finance professionals alike. Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary chose the book for her Color of Money book club. Newsday columnist Lynn Brenner praised it as “a first-rate guide through the financial aid maze,” and John Wasik, in Forbes, noted it “can save thousands in college bills.”
Chany's advice on getting the most possible financial aid—a service he has provided to families for more than 40 years as president and founder of the New York-based firm Campus Consultants—has helped thousands of his clients cut thousands of dollars off the price they pay for college.
Paying less for college has become increasingly important as college costs have skyrocketed. Among 10,800 college applicants and parents The Princeton Review surveyed in February for its 2024 College Hopes & Worries Survey, 98% said they would need some form of financial aid (grants, scholarships and/or loans) to pay for college, and 82% of that cohort characterized their level of need as "very" or "extremely" necessary.
To readers of the book in sticker shock over college costs, Chany says “Don’t faint just yet. There’s a lot of financial aid out there—and the majority of this book is devoted to showing you how to get that financial aid.”
Paying for College is one of more than 150 books developed by The Princeton Review and published by Penguin Random House. Others include: The Best 390 Colleges (August 2024), Essays That Kicked Apps (September 2023), and annually updated guides to the SAT, ACT and AP® exams. The Princeton Review also reports annual college rankings in dozens of categories including a list of the top 25 schools for "Great Financial Aid" and its Best Value Colleges project lists which are based on more than 40 data points related to ROI (Return on Investment).
About Kalman A. Chany
Kalman A. Chany is president of Campus Consultants Inc., a Manhattan-based firm he founded in 1984 that has helped thousands of families maximize their financial aid. He has appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS’s Evening News, and NBC’s Nightly News, guested on NPR's Talk of the Nation, and been sourced in publications from Money to The Wall Street Journal.
About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admissions services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school–bound students as well as working professionals achieve their education and career goals through its many education services and products. These include online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors; online resources; more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House; and dozens of categories of school rankings. Founded in 1981, The Princeton Review is now in its 43rd year. The company’s Tutor.com brand, now in its 24th year, is one of the largest online tutoring services in the U.S. It comprises a community of thousands of tutors who have delivered more than 27 million tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review is headquartered in New York, NY. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University. For more information, visit PrincetonReview.com and the company's Media Center. Follow the company on X (formerly Twitter) @ThePrincetonRev and Instagram @theprincetonreview.
PAYING FOR COLLEGE: Everything You Need to Maximize Financial Aid and Afford College
by Kalman A. Chany with Geoff Martz
Penguin Random House • 2025 Edition • September 17, 2024
$25.99 (Canada $35.99) • 368 pages • ISBN 978-0593517864
ACT® is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc.
AP®, CSS Profile®, and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, The Princeton Review.
FAFSA® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Education.
Contact: Jeanne Krier, Publicist for The Princeton Review and Tutor.com, pressoffice@review.com
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