GLENEDEN BEACH, OR — Ben Kaplan didn’t have a clue about how he was going to pay for college. Like millions of other high school students in this era of skyrocketing college costs, Kaplan faced a difficult choice: Either be buried alive beneath a mountain of student debt, or forgo his educational dreams and settle for a much cheaper school.

But that was before Kaplan discovered that thousands of organizations can’t wait to give away billions of dollars in merit-based scholarships. Three dozen applications later, Kaplan had won more than two dozen awards and amassed nearly $90,000 in scholarship money for use at any college—enabling him to attend Harvard University virtually for free.

Realizing that few knew these scholarships existed, and even fewer knew how to win these valuable awards, Kaplan set out to help others realize their collegiate dreams. The result is his groundbreaking book, How To Go To College Almost For Free, which distills key insights from Kaplan’s own experiences and from interviews with other scholarship winners—proving that you don’t need top grades or high test scores to win college cash.

"Everyone can win substantial money for college," said Kaplan. "It’s just a matter of learning the key strategies and ‘guerrilla tactics’ for finding and winning these awards, and then taking the initiative to go for it."

In addition to his book projects, Kaplan conducts scholarship workshops, consults with organizations desiring to set up scholarship programs, and answers financial aid questions in his "Ask the Scholarship Coach" column at the ScholarshipCoach.com website. Kaplan has also written numerous articles on the subject, including columns for The New York Times and U.S. News & World Report. He is available for interviews upon request.

How To Go To College Almost For Free by Ben Kaplan (ISBN 0-06-093765-3) is published in conjunction with HarperCollins Publishers, and is available at bookstores nationwide. The book is 4000 pages, and has a $22 cover price.