The cost of college is staggering today, and many families might even be paying more than they have to.
A local non-profit called College Affordable is helping many students get more financial aid than they ever thought possible.
Warleny Sanchez of Lowell is one of those students.
She will be attending the University of Notre Dame on a full scholarship this fall. She will be the first member of her family to go to college.
"I remember when I opened my acceptance letter. We all started crying, and when we saw the award letter, it was incredible."
Warleny is thankful her high school took part in College Affordable.
"I didn't know anything about college. I didn't know anything about financial aid. I didn't know anything about the process in general, and obviously my family didn't know, so they didn't know how to help me, but College Affordable definitely made it easier."
Founder Gregg Cohen said, "We're a non-profit organization that helps families navigate the financial aid process and minimize the cost of college."
He has run a college advising service called Campus Bound in the Boston area for 25 years.
"It became over time just more and more obvious that the people that needed the help the most didn't have access to it."
That was his catalyst for creating College Affordable.
"We developed this program that is sponsored by philanthropists, foundations, local businesses to be able to help these families for free."
They currently partner with 50 high schools across the state.
That's up from just 10 schools three years ago.
College Affordable starts with a series of webinars on things like decoding financial aid forms and understanding how different student loans work.
As the process evolves, they offer 1-1 meetings and email access to experts.
"What's great about our staff right now is a lot of our staff is first gen. I'm a first-gen college student," said Lynette O'Leart, the organization's director of financial aid.
She thinks they're effective because they meet families where they are in terms of background information and then take it step by step.
This approach seems to work in a big way.
"When we looked at the data from last year, we found that financial aid offers for families that worked with College Affordable were three times higher than the national average."
As more schools break the $100,000 tuition barrier, executive director Brian Gardiner knows some families are put off by higher education.
"That's such a scary thing for a lot of families."
He says College Affordable will help anyone.
"There are more options available for students as well in terms of what higher education looks like for them, and we're not just focused on kids who are going to four-year colleges. We help those kids in two-year programs and kids that go into vocational programs."
As Warleny gets ready to head to Indiana, she knows College Affordable is making that trip possible.
"Yes, yes, yes, I am so blessed. Yes, yes, yes."
College Affordable currently has a waiting list of about 20 schools.
They want to expand, so it's worth contacting them if you're interested in bringing the program to your community.
As for Warleny, she plans to study psychology when she gets to Notre Dame.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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