Mil­lions of high school seniors await the wave of col­lege accep­tance and denial let­ters this spring. For most, the often gru­el­ing appli­ca­tion process is over, allow­ing for a healthy case of seniori­tis to set in. Once those let­ters arrive, how­ever, a whole new sea­son of plan­ning and decision-making begins. Pay­ing for college.

Many an eager appli­cant may encounter a tem­po­rary state of pride-induced mania after receiv­ing a "Yes, we like you" let­ter from their top-choice school… fol­lowed by the more sober­ing news of tuition and liv­ing costs bal­loon­ing upwards in the tens-of-thousands. Yikes!

The U.S. News & World Report recently (yes­ter­day) their updated 10 Steps to Raise $15K or More for Col­lege Now, and here are some high­lights from the article:

Big­ger and bet­ter tax breaks: The fed­eral gov­ern­ment esti­mates per­haps 2 mil­lion tuition-paying Amer­i­cans will be able to get as much as $2,500 back on their taxes when they file in 2010 and 2011 by tak­ing advan­tage of the new Amer­i­can Oppor­tu­nity tax credit. The new credit is tar­geted at low– and middle-income fam­i­lies and isn't avail­able to sin­gles earn­ing more than $90,000 a year or cou­ples earn­ing more than $180,000. Even those who earn so lit­tle that they owe no taxes can receive refund checks of up to $1,000.

Cheaper schools: The biggest increase in enroll­ment has been in two-year com­mu­nity col­leges, which are the lowest-priced col­leges in the coun­try. The sticker price of a year's tuition at an aver­age com­mu­nity col­lege rose by $220 for the 2009-10 aca­d­e­mic year, to $2,540, the Col­lege Board reported. But because of increased Pell Grants and tax breaks, the out-of-pocket (or net) price paid by com­mu­nity col­lege stu­dents actu­ally fell, the Col­lege Board believes. The aver­age com­mu­nity col­lege stu­dent got enough aid to pay all tuition, with $460 left over to help pay for books and sup­plies (which typ­i­cally add another $1,000 to total col­lege costs), the board estimates.

More, big­ger, cheaper, and eas­ier fed­eral stu­dent loans: At least 6 mil­lion stu­dents are tak­ing out fed­eral Stafford stu­dent loans this year, up from about 4 mil­lion two years ago. Young fresh­men can bor­row up to $5,500. Upper­class­men 24 and older can bor­row up to $12,500. The gov­ern­ment has made it eas­ier to repay those loans by allow­ing grad­u­ates to cap their monthly pay­ments below 15 per­cent of their incomes.

These are just some of the timely finan­cial aid info for col­lege that might make or break a col­lege deci­sion, espe­cially with prospec­tive col­lege stu­dents from fam­i­lies with mod­er­ate incomes.

If you have some tips for finan­cial aid that we've not yet men­tioned here at Bet­ter­Grads, please let us know.

Check out pre­vi­ous Bet­ter­Grad arti­cles related to fund­ing your col­lege education:

Count Those Pennies

Mak­ing Col­lege Affordable

Things to Think About Before Transferring