College, it’s a real possibility for many people in the near future. Seniors in highschool are waiting to hear from all those colleges that they applied to, hoping that they get into one of their top choices. But for many, the prices of those colleges are overwhelming and cause many people to apply to community colleges or cheaper public ones instead of the higher notch private colleges. It is a fact that over the past year the price for a 4 year college has significantly gone up. The price for a public college has gone up 6.6% bringing the average cost per year to around $6,185. That means that you are spending around $24,740 on a 4 year education. The smaller private colleges that cost an average of $23,712 a year has gone up about 6.3% from last year. That means that, for a 4 year college experience at a private school you are paying around $94,848. Public two-year $2,361 a year, up 4.2 percent from last year.
Students will pay, on average, from $371 to $406 more than last year for this year’s room and board, depending on the type of college. The average surcharge for full-time out-of-state students at public four-year institutions is $10,455.
-college board
It is amazing that in the US, people can pay anywhere from $25,000 to almost $100,000! And that is not even counting the IVY league schools which can get up to $200,000. Then you must consider that, right now, the prices are not going to start falling.
Over the past 20 years, inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, increased by 84 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the cost of tuition, fees and room and board at both public and private colleges and universities grew at a rate much faster than inflation. According to The College Board, those costs tripled. In the 1985-1986 academic year, comprehensive costs at public schools totaled $3,791. For this academic year they are $12,796. At private colleges and universities 20 years ago, comprehensive costs totaled $8,902. This academic year, the number is a stunning $30,367.- abc world news.
It is getting way over the top with the prices of colleges. Sadly, soon, more and more people will start to think that the cost of going to college in the US is not worth it. I say the US because I found and interesting fact. While the United States is pushing the majority of college kids into debt, there are places that have a wonderful solution. Europe, for example, is providing tuition FREE colleges and universities for people to attend. That is saving the average student anywhere from $5,000-$12,000 a year. That may not seem like much to some, but it takes a good chunk out of the cost of colleges in the end. after four years you end up saving from $20,000 to $48,000!
‘Why?’ you may ask is the price for college so high. An article from CNNMoney.com had this to say about the rising costs for colleges.
The College Board doesn’t examine the reasons for tuition increases in its report. But Baum said she sees a correlation between the rise in tuition to the decline in state funding at public schools and to the reduction in endowment income and private giving at private schools.
She also attributes the price hikes at both private and public schools in part to the rising costs of health care – a component of compensation, which is a big part of school budgets – and to the cost of technology, which schools invest in to maintain state-of-the-art facilities.
This entry was not meant to scare anyone away from going to college. Once you find that college or university that is just right for you, you should go for it. Just be careful and watch out for the quickly rising cost of that education. Think really hard to see if the benefit outweighs the cost. And hay, if you really need to you can go over to Europe where the government pays the tuition for the colleges and universities.
(A special thanks to CNNMoney. com, ABC world news, and college board for the info!)
Here are the web pages if you want more information on colleges and their costs;
http://money.cnn.com/2004/10/18/pf/college/college_costs/index.htm http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/PersonalFinance/story?id=2865814&page=1 http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/college_cost.jsp
