(MONEY Magazine) – Kristin Lindeberg, 18, of Minneapolis could have gone to the well-regarded University of Minnesota (in-state tuition and fees: $3,289). But the school had proposed dropping its humanities department to cut costs, and she feared that other specialties might soon be threatened as well. She asked herself, ''Do I really want to go to a school where the major I want might vanish when I'm a sophomore or junior?'' She also had heard from friends that Minnesota had eliminated so many class sections that students sometimes had trouble getting into courses needed to complete their majors. So Kristin, pictured opposite, made a decision that would cause many parents to blanch: She enrolled at Dartmouth (tuition and fees: $17,334), figuring that the wealthy Ivy college in New Hampshire might face fewer cutbacks. As Kristin discovered, America's 2,127 four-year colleges and universities have entered an age of austerity. You may have thought that choosing a school for your child was all about books and professors, libraries and labs. Instead, as the campus budget squeeze gets tighter than ever, your search for the right school is really all about money. Overall, 57% of the nation's colleges and universities saw their operating budgets cut for the 1991-92 academic year, according to a survey of 411 schools by the American Council on Education; public schools fared worse than private ones. ''Last year and this one will probably be the toughest years for higher education in the past two to three decades,'' says James Appleberry, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, who expects the budget cuts to continue for at least 12 more months. That means students entering college next fall can expect higher tuition, fewer teachers and course offerings, increasingly crowded classrooms, diminished student services and sports programs, and less financial aid from the schools (although possibly more from the government; see ''The New Rules of Financial Aid'' on page 42). No wonder parents of today's college-bound children are asking themselves: How can we possibly afford college? And if we can manage to find the money, how can we be sure of getting top value? This guide will help you do both. Our exclusive value rankings on page 64 highlight the 100 public and private schools that deliver the most for the dollar. We also identify standout schools in each of the five U.S. regions. Other stories advise you on saving and investing wisely for college expenses whether your child is a toddler or a teen, tracking down scholarships and organizing your quest for the right college. And we tell you all about a little-known strategy for cutting 40% off the cost of a bachelor's degree by starting out at a community college and then transferring to a four-year school. First, however, here are some things to keep in mind as you and your child set out on your search: -- Costs are rising. Colleges are back to the infamous mid-1980s pattern of hoisting charges at more than twice the general inflation rate. Average tuition and fees are expected to jump an average of 10% to 12% for the 1993-94 academic year at four-year public schools and 7% at private campuses. Those hikes follow this year's increase of 12% at public schools, which brought the average tab for tuition, fees, and room and board to $5,488; and 7% at private colleges, which lifted the average total cost to $14,403. Cuts in state funding are the main cause of higher tuitions at public schools. With tax revenues shriveled by the recession, state legislatures are asking parents to pay a higher share of the cost of educating their children. Last year total state appropriations for higher education declined, for the first time ever, by $72 million to $40.1 billion. Arthur Hauptman, a higher education consultant in Washington, D.C., believes that tuition increases at public schools may drop back into single digits when the economy improves and states begin boosting support for their university systems again. Yet the damage has been done: Many public schools are not the bargains they once were. Tuition and fees at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, for example, have about doubled in four years to $5,064 for a Bay State resident and $11,165 for an out-of-stater. Private schools cite a number of reasons for their sharp tuition hikes, including rising health insurance costs, steep drops in research grants and private donations, and the need to perform long-postponed building repairs. Yale, for example, estimates that its buildings may require $1 billion worth of restoration work during the next 10 years. And citing the need to ''maintain the quality of a Stanford education,'' that university -- after only two years -- has dropped its ballyhooed policy of limiting tuition increases to one percentage point above the inflation rate. The prestigious California school's tuition will rise 9.5% this year to $16,635. Toss in fees, room and board, and the total cost is $23,048. In one of the few signs of price restraint, Bennington raised its charges only 2.9% -- the smallest increase in its 60-year history. But that hardly makes the Vermont school a bargain -- it is still the nation's fourth most expensive college, with a total annual cost of $23,200. And it will have to cut eight out of 68 full- time faculty positions by fall '93. Overall, Hauptman expects annual tuition increases at private schools to average about 7% for the next four years. -- Schools are growing stingier with financial aid. Traditionally, whenever colleges have raised their tuition, they have also increased their financial aid outlays to help needy students meet the rising costs. Lately, however, the aid has not kept pace with runaway tuition. Instead, schools are meeting a smaller portion of students' financial need -- as little as 20%, for example -- and leaving it to them to come up with the rest. And that means more students cannot afford to attend the school of their choice. Furthermore, a growing number of elite schools are abandoning their long- cherished need-blind admissions policies, in which they admitted applicants without regard for their ability to pay, and then used grants, loans and campus jobs to provide students with the money they needed. ''Higher education is growing more and more inaccessible to middle-income families,'' warns Richard Novak, director of the Center for State Higher Education Policy and Finance in Washington, D.C. One sign: In 1989, children of families earning between $40,000 and $75,000 a year accounted for 31% of the students at 32 of the country's most highly selective colleges and universities, down sharply from 39% in 1978 (in inflation-adjusted dollars). Meanwhile, the percentage of students from families earning more than $75,000 increased from 39% to 47%. Students placed on colleges' waiting lists for admission may get especially miserly treatment. ''By the time schools get to their waiting lists,'' says Gary Ripple, admissions director at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., ''they've often used up their aid budgets and so admit only those who can afford to pay.'' -- Admissions are getting tougher at public schools but easier at privates. Because the average public school still costs 62% less than its private counterpart, more young people are trying to enroll; 54% of public schools reported increases in applications last year, vs. 48% of private schools, according to the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC). At the same time, more public institutions are limiting enrollment to save money (see ''Sizing Up the Big State Schools'' on page 18). Your son or daughter may therefore have a harder time getting into State U. The State University of New York at Albany, for example, which ranks No. 23 on MONEY's list of top college values, reduced its incoming freshman class by 5% last year to 2,000, even though applications were up by 8%. Students bound for private schools, on the other hand, might set their sights higher than just a few years ago. That's because with high schools turning out fewer graduates -- 2.4 million this year, down 18% since 1982 -- many private colleges are easing admissions standards. ''All but the most selective schools are accepting kids they once would have waitlisted,'' says Phyllis Steinbrecher, a college consultant in Westport, Conn. ''And Brown, for example, had six applicants for every spot this year instead of seven as in the past. That definitely opens things up.'' In May, NACAC found that 66% of the schools it surveyed, including Drake in Des Moines, St. John's in New York City and USC in Los Angeles, still had space available. -- Faculties are shrinking. Almost anywhere your child enrolls, he or she can expect to find fewer teachers. For example, to combat its $15 million budget deficit, Yale plans to eliminate almost 11% of its 1,496 faculty positions during the next 10 years or so. Wellesley has instituted ''controlled shrinkage,'' says president William Chace -- meaning that the school will shave 15 jobs from its 250-member faculty over the next five years. Dartmouth, Kristin Lindeberg's school, has been one of the lucky ones able to resist faculty cuts, in part because it has eliminated 75 administrative jobs in the past five years. -- Students are taking longer to graduate. Because there are fewer teachers on campus, your son or daughter might need a year or two more than you think to earn a degree. A course that was once open to 300 students in 10 sections might now enroll only 150 in five sections. Thus, many undergraduates are forced to wait an extra year for such courses, even if they are required for the students' majors. The situation is especially bad at public schools laboring under severe funding cuts, such as those in California and Massachusetts. ''The traditional four-year bachelor's degree is no longer the norm at large public schools,'' asserts Rick Moore, the director of communications at San Diego State, who adds that the school's last-minute cancellation of 662 of its roughly 5,000 course sections in 1991-92 meant that some 1,000 students were unable to graduate on time. -- Curriculums are narrowing. Along with reducing the number of class sections, many schools are pruning less popular programs. Columbia, for example, shut down its school of library science this year, and Yale has proposed closing its linguistics department. State systems are saving money by eliminating duplication among their campuses. -- Student services are less available. Career counseling, libraries, even student health programs are prime targets for the budget ax. San Francisco State, for instance, reduced library hours by 12% last year and canceled 500 subscriptions to newspapers and journals. This year, the school administrators expect to make more cuts, including reducing hours or services significantly at the student health and psychological services and career centers. Some schools are looking for more creative ways to solve their economic problems. For example, Massachusetts' seven public liberal arts colleges are all developing specific focus areas that relate to local industries and are phasing out peripheral departments. Worcester College (5,000 undergraduates), for instance, plans to launch a program in health sciences with help from nearby biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies that expect to employ some of the graduates. And this fall, Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., Mills College in Oakland, Mount Vernon in Washington, D.C. and Russell Sage in Troy, N.Y. are launching an ambitious cross-registration program that will allow juniors and seniors to spend as many as three semesters at any of the schools. ''Since it's impossible economically for schools to provide a huge smorgasbord of offerings, they're increasingly coming up with creative solutions,'' says Jim Gray, vice president of academic affairs at Mount Vernon. Colleges are also making more use of video and computer technology to stretch their resources. Videotape already supplements and occasionally replaces standard lectures at some schools. This can be a mixed blessing: While video may enable a superstar professor to reach more students, viewers do not get the benefit of classroom give-and-take. Yet some technology is a clear plus. Many schools now have computer networks that allow professors and students to gain access to films, videos and laser disks in the classroom or in dorms. At Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., for one, students can transmit essays and term papers to their professors electronically and get back grades and comments the same way. The long financial casualty list makes it more important than ever to put extra effort into finding a school that meets your child's needs. There are hundreds of colleges that still provide topnotch educations -- but you may have to work a little harder to discover them. If that prospect seems daunting, just bear in mind that the more time you and your child spend investigating schools, the happier you are likely to be with your choice.