The number of private colleges with costs of attendance of $50,000 or higher has jumped to 58 this year, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Last year only five schools charged that much. If that's not alarming, I don't know what is!
College costs in general have risen much more rapidly than the costs of other goods and services, according to a related article in the New York Times. Costs are up 4.3 percent this year at private colleges and 5.9 percent for in-state students at public schools, according to the article.If this isn't a wake up call to families of college-bound students, I don't know what is! People had better start planning on how to deal with these spiraling costs! Planning on positioning themselves to be eligible for the most possible aid. Planning on how to best pay for their share of this enormous tab without putting themselves in the poor house. Planning on finding the best schools that offer the most generous aid packages, and so much more.
People spend more time planning a $2,000 vacation than they do planning for how to handle a potential $200,000 price tag for a college education. Time to wake up America!
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