Other strategies for college funding

Besides targeting academic and athletic scholarships, as Sofie Adams did, there are other factors that advisers say students and their parents can consider:

• Apply for financial aid (aka free money). Applications for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid , or FAFSA, opened Oct. 1 — the earlier you file, the better, as deadlines may vary by state or college in order to qualify for aid next fall.

• Attend community college first. Community college for the first couple of years is a low-cost way to start your education before transferring to a public or private university.

• Put a GPA requirement on parent contributions. Agree to a sliding scale of contributions based on your child’s academic performance and your budget.

• Split allowance with college savings. As your children get older, split their allowance so that half they can spend and half goes into their college fund.

The last weekend in September, Urban Adams and his wife, Lia, traveled to St. Lawrence to watch Sofie play center field and bat leadoff in her first college game — and experience her first upstate New York fall.

“I’m loving it here. The classes are small, which I like, the team is great — and all the trees are yellow and red,” says Sofie, who hopes to study in Denmark her junior year.

This article was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Kevin Voigt is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: kevin@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @kevinvoigt.