Where to Find Money for College Paying for college has become a national nightmare. With four years' education at many good private schools costing over $100,000, parents are ready to break out. No way can they cover such an amount out of current incomes—even if grandparents chip in. Yet many families manage to get their kids through school—without being taken to the cleaners. How do they do it? Here are some strategies for raising the money or cutting the expense—some of them little known but very effective. Keep their noses in the books. Many excellent schools offer scholarships to kids at the top of their high-school class, regardless of financial need. Says counselor Jim Alexander of Highland Park High School near Chicago, 'Other than proving need, the best way to get money is high grades.' Even though some top schools, such as those in the Ivy League, award no merit scholarships, most other colleges do. At Marquette University in Wisconsin, for instance, these with SAT scores of at least 1,300 can try for five full-tuition scholarships, each worth $13,010.Nearly half of Marquette's 1,600 freshmen get some merit aid. In 1994 Ohio's Case Western Reserve awarded 1,200 merit scholarship—the best of them covering full tuition. At Boston University, merit money is doled out (少量地发放)to some 550 of the 4350 member freshman class. The biggest award is full tuition plus fees-worth more than $ 19,000—for SAT scores of at least 1450. Says B.U. financial-aid director Barbara Torrnow, 'The best students will receive whatever aid they need to come to our school.' Check the earmarks. Some colleges have scholarship money earmarked (指定用途)for particular majors. George Washington University, for example, awards $ 7,500 scholarships to the best of its chemistry and physics students who score 650 or above on the math SATs and are in the top 15 percent of their class. Undergraduate schools of engineering—at Texas and Michigan, among others—often have money to hand out. Encourage sports. If your kids are into water sports, they could get a grant from Stanford or Berkeley. At Northwestern University, where some 265 students received athletic scholarships last year, softball can provide a ticket for half the total $ 24,921 cost of attendance. (Football covers the full tab. ) Lake Erie College in Ohio awards $ 2,000 equestrian scholarships, though the college does not regard them as sports awards. Indiana University and some other schools have a scholarship for needy students in the top 25 percent of their class who have been golf caddies for at least two summers. Especially encourage your daughters. As University of Texas at Austin financial-services director lawrence Burt says, 'Sports scholarships are much more prevalent for women than a decade ago.' Notre Dame, for example, awards women volleyball players scholarships that cover tuition fees, and room and board, valued at $ 22,600. Scholarships go not only to young women who excel in basketball, softball and lacrosse but also to those who excel at golf and — at Marquette — even riflery. Push those music lessons. Many colleges seek students talented in music, art and theater. Boston University might pay thousands of dollars for your bassoonist child to play in its orchestra. Your trombonist could pick up a scholarship by joining the University of Texas band. Cash in on competition. Apply to schools that are feeling competitive heart. Lehigh University, for instance, with an annual cost of almost $ 27,000, grew tired of losing students to Penn State, which charges Pennsylvania residents about $ 9,500. Last year Lehigh began awarding 25 to 30 of its best applicants scholarships ranging from $ 5,000 to $ 7,000 a year. Not to be outdone, nearby Lafayette College (cost: $ 27,221) provides $10,000 scholarships to selected students, as well