Parents, we don't mean to scare you but if you have young twins, you could be looking at a cost of at least half a million dollars to put your children through college based on current inflation estimates. And that's just the tuition cost. Even if your twins are already in high school, top-notch universities are already charging upwards of $30,000 a year for tuition so multiply that cost by 2 and by four years and it's around a quarter of a million dollars.

Add in costs for housing, food, books and fees and the bottom line is college is an extremely expensive undertaking for families with several college-age students. Luckily there are resources out there that could help lessen the costs.

Probably the best thing your children can do to help alleviate the costs is to excel either in the classroom or in athletics. Outstanding students can qualify for a number of scholarships to the point that the top schools might be fighting over your children attending their school. Student-athletes are the same way, and it's not uncommon at all to see twins both get full rides in such sports as football, men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball and soccer or men's or women's tennis (track and field is another popular sport for twins but it's a little more difficult to get full rides in that sport).

But even if your students aren't class valedictorians or the best athletes, there are opportunities available to lower the costs. Going to an in-state school will cut your costs way down and public universities are still much more affordable than most private schools. Many schools offer particular help in obtaining scholarship aid and loans. And there are programs which can help you save for college for your children even before they're born where you might not be doing anything special other than normal grocery trips and paying for gasoline.

Another suggestion is to contact your state's local Parents of Multiples program. Many state programs have special scholarships for the college-bound twins and multiples of their members. For instance, in New York there are two annual $1000 scholarships awarded to children attending college and one $1000 scholarship awarded to a mother of twins attending a university or college. You can see more on the Marie Simmons Scholarship Program at this web page

There are also several schools that have really good scholarship deal specifically for twins, triplets and families with super twins. This is just a small list - if you know of other special programs, please let us know by sending us an email. And remember, just about every university in the country does offer some small family-based grant of anywhere from $500-$2000 in tution fee reductions if a family has more than one member attending a school at the same time. There are restrictions and conditions that must be met so be sure to contact the school's financial aid office for more information.