Spoiler alert: college cost is not transparent. In fact, I like to talk  about college cost as akin to a used car lot. If you are on a college website at this very moment – looking at the sticker price – chances are  good you will not pay this amount. Shocking, but true. This simple fact causes a lot of headache and heartache for families around the United  States…not to mention missed opportunities for a better education.  

This is especially true for private colleges. Private colleges have  what’s called an internal discount rate. You don’t often hear this term floated around outside of academia, but the topic is no less compelling  for families looking for an affordable option to educate their children. This is the amount, on average, that private colleges discount their  tuition for students.