SUSAN TOMPOR:A Last-minute research on college loans: "Yes, it may be late for parents to start scurrying around for a loan to cover this fall's college tuition bill. But last-minute borrowing could be as common as waiting until the night before the big economics exam to crack open Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations"
'I get calls from parents all the time. They don't start thinking about how they're going to pay for it until the student gets admitted,' said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, a student loan site.
Or emergencies pop up. Or tuition and other costs prove more costly than expected."