| Forget what you think you know about paying for college. You've heard all the advice. Start saving yesterday. Use a 529 plan. Push yourself, your child, your grandchild — whoever in your life is gearing up for admissions season — to apply to scholarships. If all else fails, consider community college. These tips are great. In many cases, they still make sense. But America's financial advisers want you to know that the landscape for financing higher education has changed in just the past few years. You may need a serious strategy rethink. Consider: - Dozens of schools across the country are going bankrupt. At least 23 institutions have closed or merged so far this year, sometimes giving students and parents a week's notice before closing.
- The four-year sticker price for many schools now totals almost $400,000. That's about as much as the median sale price of a home in the United States right now.
- Many teenagers are questioning the importance of college altogether. Only 39% of students of prime college-application age said they thought a college education is "very important" in a 2023 Gallup survey.
If you still need a wakeup call, read my colleague's new story about one college using Wall Street's merger-and-acquisition playbook to navigate today's brutal business of higher education. Pay close attention to what happens to students when their colleges get taken over by a larger competitor due to financial problems. (Hint: It involves extra semesters and forcibly changing majors.) I'm stressed just writing this. To help you plan to pay for college in this altered landscape, I called up financial advisers across the country and asked them for tips. They weren't what I necessarily expected. Here are the best: Institutional failure is a serious, new risk "We're going to see more and more colleges implode," says Catherine Valega, owner of the financial planning firm Green Bee Advisory in Winchester, Massachusetts. "It's something new for parents to really have to pay attention to the financial resources and wherewithal of the school." Valega recommends minding the size of a college's student body as well as its endowment. In the most general of senses, a larger student body and larger endowment — as well as access to state funding — bode better for survival. That said, don't write off small schools. Some small, private colleges are financially stable and offer great merit aid, which may make them a deal for families, Valega says. The important part is doing your research and asking questions about a school's resources. Rankings aren't everything This week marked an annual tradition. US News & World Report released its fraught (but always closely watched) rankings of American colleges. The scorecard has been heavily criticized by some schools in recent years. Advisers say with the costs of college exploding, parents and students need to be skeptical of an often-held belief that going to the best-ranked school is also the best strategy. "At what cost?" says David Flores Wilson, managing partner at Sincerus Advisory in New York City. That's how he tries to get parents to measure the trade-offs between prestige and price, also pointing to research questioning the link between ranking and post-collegiate success. One 2018 study affiliated with the Stanford University Graduate School of Education found engagement in college has a greater impact on outcomes than rank. Brandon Angotti, financial planning and trust officer with The Wealth Group at Union Savings Bank in Danbury, Connecticut encourages parents to look at rankings that also focus on value. "College choice is the number-one way to avoid student loans and have a better shot at a positive return-on-investment on a college education," he says. On that note, Bloomberg Wealth crunched the numbers on college ROI in this incredibly helpful tool, which actually shows that in many cases, elite private colleges underperform when it comes to the average student's return. Before you head out on that campus tour… In today's context, this is a suggestion I couldn't un-hear. "Campus tours often are so effective in creating an emotional connection with a future student, often even when that student's family can't afford that school," said Wilson of Sincerus. "Before booking a campus tour, parents and students should thoroughly research the school's admission criteria, costs, and merit-based and need-based financial aid stats." Financial advisers say having a budget and setting expectations is crucial to avoiding disappointment — or mountains of debt — later. (Just think: Would you let your 16-year-old decide which house you were going to buy after one walk-through? School choice is not so different.) Negotiating is more important than ever Higher education is a competitive marketplace. And for all the fear there is about admissions, the system is based on an important truth: Colleges want — need — students. You can use this to your advantage. "A good way to negotiate financial aid is to apply to schools that will give the student a good financial aid package, even if it is a school the student would not go to," says Vida Jatulis, financial planner at MainStreet Financial Planning in Los Gatos, California. "Then use that information to negotiate aid with the schools the student wants to attend." Sound like a lot of work? It is. But if my conversations with advisers revealed anything, it's that despite mounting costs and a difficult environment, even tough-talking planners say that in most cases, college is worth it. Good planning can make it even more so. — Charlie Wells P.S. The point of this newsletter is to give you value. I like speaking to advisers across the country about questions you have about your financial lives. So send questions you want answered to me here. Silver hit the highest since 2012 as expectations for additional interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve help boost precious metals. It climbed as much as 2.8% to $32.71 an ounce on Thursday, extending this year's gain to 37%. Silver is one of the year's best-performing major commodities as the Fed's pivot toward easier policy last week, and the prospect of additional rate cuts, benefit the non-yielding metals. France's bonds are now judged to be riskier than those of Spain for the first time since 2007, a symbolic reversal pointing to the extent of its financial-market woes. With Prime Minister Michel Barnier's newly formed minority coalition struggling to get a grip on deficits after an inconclusive election, the shift in relative status shows how traders are increasingly projecting persistent disarray in Paris onto the price of the country's debt. Gainers and losers on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index over the past week: Elon Musk gained $21.3 billion, bringing his current net worth to $269.9 billion. A significant chunk of the Tesla CEO's wealth comes from the company's shares, up about 20% from the end of August. Optimism around the company's performance in China is boosting Tesla stock. Fred Smith was one of the week's biggest wealth losers in percentage terms, clocking a 9% loss that brought his net worth down to $6.5 billion. FedEx, the company he founded, had a tough few days after warning its business would slow in the year ahead. The majority of Smith's wealth is derived from FedEx. The Corner Office Gets a Whole New Meaning New Yorkers can now lease apartments in the former headquarters of Goldman Sachs at 55 Broad St., where the bank was based from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.  The interior of an apartment conversion at 55 Broad St. Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg The apartments boast 10-foot (3 meters) ceilings, water views and custom Italian kitchens. The building will have amenities including a fitness and yoga center, pet-washing stations, a rooftop swimming pool and grilling stations. Studios will rent for about $4,000 a month while three bedrooms will go for about $10,000 a month. Signs of Life Return to the Commercial Real Estate Sector Buyers and sellers in US commercial real estate are increasingly convinced that the beleaguered market is reaching a bottom. With prices down 19% from a peak in 2022, the commercial-property market is starting to come to life. In part that's because lenders and owners want to cut their losses and make new investments now that the Federal Reserve's first rate cut in four years is bringing some clarity on where valuations stand. This week, we're looking for people who are using new financing options to pay for cosmetic procedures. If this is something you'd be up to discuss, drop us a line at bbgwealth@bloomberg.net or fill out this form. The world faces a wide range of critical challenges, ranging from ongoing military conflict and a worsening climate crisis to the unforeseen consequences of deglobalization and accelerating artificial intelligence. But these challenges are not insurmountable. Join us in Sao Paulo on Oct. 22-23 as leaders in business and government from across the globe come together to discuss the biggest issues of our time and mark the path forward. Click here to register. | 
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