As college costs continue to rise, the credit crisis has made it more difficult for families to get some of the loans they need to pay for school. Although families can still obtain loans, they may have to look harder and use different strategies to pay for their children’s education than they have in the past..

FOXBusiness.com tackles education as our “On Topic” for September. Check back every day to read stories about trends, concerns and analysis, at the K-12 level as well as in higher education.

“For the last 20 years, the rate of tuition increases has been higher than inflation, at about 4% to 7% a year… It’s unsustainable, and the credit crunch may finally bring us to the point where it can’t go up anymore,” said Kevin Walker, CEO of SimpleTuition.com, a college loan comparison Web site.

SimpleTuition.com saw its number of loan partners drop from 72 to 17 amid the recent tightening of credit.

College loans have been affected for a variety of reasons.

There are two main types of student loans--federal and private--and they have each been affected in different ways, according to Kevin Bruns, executive director of America’s Student Loans Providers, which represents providers of higher-education funding.

The credit crunch that first burst onto the scene in subprime mortgages started to affect subprime education loans as well, making it difficult for lenders to raise funds for them, said Bruns. Some lenders backed off making these private loans or boosted the requirements for qualification, while others stopped them altogether.

On the federal side, Congress cut subsidies they gave to private lenders of federal loans, wiping out the margin for many, which caused them to back out of the business or cut down on the quantity of loans they were approving, said Bruns.

Chase (JPM) spokesman Tom Kelly said that after a slash in subsidies, the bank had to consider each of the schools it did federal loans for and decide if they were still profitable--and for those that were not, loans were discontinued. 

“We tightened standards so some students who might have qualified on their own a year ago might only qualify with a cosigner. At some schools we’re now only doing private loans, whereas a year ago we were doing federal and private,” he added.

Although many private, for-profit banks have made cuts to their loan programs, emergency legislation passed by Congress saved nonbank student loan companies like Sallie Mae (SLM) by increasing liquidity, said Bruns. 

“As a result of this law, students shouldn’t have any problem getting a federal loan this academic year… In some cases students had to find another lender or borrow directly from the federal government, but for the time being there’s enough capacity for federal student loans.”

Indeed, Karen Cooper, director of financial aid at Stanford University said, “We’ve seen a lot of parents taking out federal loans and we don’t see any problems with access to those programs.”

Bruns said low-income families with children going to a school that has higher default rates are the ones that have been affected the most by this tightening of credit. “They’re certainly able to get federal loans, but for some, even with scholarships, it still might not be enough."

To help families deal with the loan situation, “schools are being accommodating and letting (families) have extra time to figure things out even as their students are enrolled,” said Walker of SimpleTuition.com. Some schools have students borrowing directly from the U.S. Treasury rather than through a private lender. “The Treasury doesn’t have issues accessing capital like private lenders do,” he added.

Other schools have frozen tuition, like SUNY schools, the Ohio State System, and Texas Tech, said Kevin Bruns.

And a handful of elite-level schools have even revamped their financial aid programs to reduce the amount of loans their students are graduating with.

Stanford, for example, has enhanced its program to reach out to low-, middle-, and upper-middle- income families. “We’ve announced no expected contribution for families making under $60,000 a year… For families making under $100,000 a year, they should expect to receive scholarships and grants to cover tuition,” said Cooper.

Even incomes higher than $100,000 are eligible for some scholarships and grants. “We just give these numbers as a sort of expectation of what kind of aid we’re giving,” added Cooper.

There are a few things families can do right now to make sure they can pay for school.

“The most important thing is to make sure you apply for financial aid and you claim the free money you’re entitled to,” said Sallie Mae Spokeswoman Martha Holler. Only three out of four families making between $35,000 and $100,000 completed the federal financial aid form (FAFSA), and many of these folks are leaving free money from Pell Grants and other items on the table, she added.

Many states also offer merit-based grants to students, regardless of their family’s income, she said.

Families should explore Plus loans, which aren’t based on credit, if the lower-interest Stafford loans aren’t enough, said Holler. “You can get everything you need to cover your direct and indirect costs of college with a plus loan. The loan limit is up to the cost of the school minus any other aid you get.”

Holler also suggested considering paying for some college as you go. Take a look at your monthly income and see what you can afford to pay from that because many schools will let you use a tuition payment plan that’s interest free and lets you pay in monthly installments.

Home equity has been a big source of college financing, said Walker of SimpleTuition.com. Between $20 billion and $25 billion a year is borrowed from home equity to cover the cost of higher education.

Finally, Sallie Mae’s Web site offers a free tool that lets you estimate the total cost of college and project what it will take for a four year degree assuming the average tuition increase. It will also estimate your monthly payments after you graduate and let you see the post-graduate income you’ll need to make to afford these payments, said Patricia Christel, a Sallie Mae spokeswoman.