by Zack Shen
As we all know, achieving a college education is not cheap. Especially for those who just break free from their parent’s greenhouse and ready to soar right into the sky, expensive college tuition can be a rather huge obstacle for achieving their goals. According to the statistics provided by CollegeBoard, the average tuition of 2016-2017 for public four-year in-state University is $9650. For those out-of-state residents, the average tuition is $24930. Those private non-profit universities’ tuition is $33480. Besides tuitions, the upcoming college students need to worry about living expense as well. The average room and board fee are $10440 for public school students while $11890 for private schools. Comparing to the academic year of 2015-2016, the cost of a college education has been increased. There is a 2.7% increase for in-state college student which is $520 more than the 2015’s tuition. For out-of-state residents or those who go to private university, there is a 3.4% increase. ("Average Published")
Tuition and Housing fee
Students do have their attitudes toward the cost of going to college. According to my own survey, more than half of the participants think that their annual cost of going to college is not reasonable. On a scale of 1 to 10, 82% of the participants ranked more than five on how big a financial impact their annual cost of college on them or their family. Apparently, most students think that their college education can be cheaper.
Student loans
Student loans also play important roles for students to finance their college education. More than 80% of the participants owe student loans. Around 42% of the debt owners have both federal and private loans. There are two kinds of student loans that a student can seek: Federal Student Aid and a private loan. A Federal Student Aid is money from the federal government that helps to pay for college. Those who are eligible for a federal student aid can apply it through FAFSA(Free Application for Federal Student Aid) (Department of Education). The key word here is FREE! There is no extra cost for applying for this student loan. Besides the federal government, private loaners can also be an option for students to borrow money from. However, federal student aid is a more significate source, which makes over two-third of the direct aid to postsecondary students in 2012 according to the CFPB(Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) ("Private Student Loans") .
Quick facts about student loans:
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The national total has surpassed 1.2 trillion dollars
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There are 44.2 million Americans with student debts
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More than 70% of Americans graduate with debts
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the average Class of 2016 graduate has $37,172 in student loan debt ("U.S. Student Loan Debt Statistics")
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Having private student loans is genuinely more risky than federal student aids
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Many students did not fully take advantage on the federal student aids before they dive into private student loans. ("Private Student Loans")
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Since a lot of students have not yet acquire financial independency, seeking help from parents is inevitable. 72% of the participants received helps from their parents on paying for college. There are many factors that affects how much the family is willing to offer for a student’s college education. Some of those parents accept college education themselves, which make them more eager to let their children have the same education level as they are; there are parents who did not go for a college education due to the financial issues, which make them eager to provide better opportunity for their children; there are parents who do not appreciate high expense of college education, which makes college education for next generation less appealing. Some scholars believe that there is a perception barrier that makes parents overestimate the cost of a college education (Grodsky). Support from family is a key portion of how students finance their college education.
Support from Family
