College Tuition Is Expensive, Planning Ahead Helps Save Money

However, the Federal Trade Commission works to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices including those in the field of education and alerts United States' consumers about diploma mills by delineating some tell-tale signs in its official web page. Under the terms of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, the U.S. "Degree replacement services" provide exact reproductions of Ph.D. or M.D. diplomas from any university in the U.S. to anyone who will write a check - no questions asked5. Potential employers can be lured into hiring unqualified candidates who display phony "degrees" on their resumes and job applications and provide the employers with falsified "transcripts" of courses that were never taken. Since employers usually take college transcripts and copies of diplomas at face value, rather than contacting numerous educational institutions to verify their candidates' academic records, the chances of a fake diploma being caught appear slim.

And just like 529 college savings plans, prepaid tuition plans have very high contribution limits. These limits are determined at the state level, and are generally based on the student’s expected future college costs. Contributions are also considered gifts for tax purposes, so deposits up to $15,000 per year per individual will qualify for the annual exclusion . What’s more, if you elect to treat your gift as if it were made over a five-year period, as much as $75,000 will qualify.

The term can be used to describe any of a number of instructional situations. Although it is thought of as a new term, distance learning has been around for well over 100 years. One of the earlier forms of distance learning was done through correspondence courses started in Europe. This stayed the primary means of distance learning until the middle of this century when instructional radio and television became more popular . As technology has changed, so has the definition of distance learning.