Cost of Education: Wow, College is Expensive

Posted: Aug 19, 2010 |Comments: 0 |

A college education is fast becoming what a high school diploma was thirty-plus years ago, a way to get a job.  Without an education, finding gainful employment can be downright difficult.  For many people, a dichotomy exists when trying to determine whether or not the cost of college coupled with the future gains outweighs the opportunity costs of foregoing the money that could be made working full time instead of taking classes.  And it's more than just tuition.

Many students and parents of students, when saving for college, do not realize that tuition may make up as little as 30% of the actual cost of school.  When fees, books, and living expenses are tallied up, the college fund that was created when students were in diapers can look woefully inadequate.  Couple that with the fact that tuition itself has been steadily rising for quite some time and, well, you get the picture.

The idea is to realistically prepare yourself for the true costs of an education.  Setting up a realistic budget will help determine everything from how much financial aid you need, to how much you need to work, to how often you can go home.  Plan for everything.  Know that books run upwards of $150 each.  Know that, while Ramen noodles are good, you can not eat them for every meal, they just don't have the nutritional value of real food.  Know that you will want to see your parents.  Know that you will want to go out.  A realistic plan is much better than the cheapest-you-can-possibly-live-for plan.

A good idea is to contact the financial aid department at either potential schools if you are applying, or the school you've been accepted to, and ask them about real costs of education at their school.  Their job is to help you with this very issue, use them as much as possible.

An education is pricey but it is widely agreed to be worth it.  Future payoffs far outweigh the costs now.  However, it is not cheap and a good plan and understanding of the costs can be invaluable.

Questions and Answers

Ask
200 Characters left
Rate this Article
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 0 vote(s)
    Feedback
    Print
    Re-Publish
    Source:  http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/cost-of-education-wow-college-is-expensive-3079557.html

    Article Tags:

    college

    ,

    college cost

    ,

    college education

    Divya gupta

    If the original thing stopping you from energy to college is the price tag, you swallow come to the well-timed place. College costs can be very scary. However, rarely few people actually pay the full sticker price for college.The select people who pay full price for college are the ones who do not do their college funding homework.

    By: Divya guptal Finance> Loansl Feb 12, 2010
    Frank Joseph

    How one man discovered a source that provided the best locations on the internet to find Government programs, Grants and scholarships that provided him with Free College Tuition and Free College Living expenses. This source pinpointed the exact places you need to get to so you too can receive the best possible funding opportunities to pay for college tuition.

    By: Frank Josephl Education> College and Universityl Sep 17, 2010

    A college education in many cases is a significant investment. The good news is that there are many options for the average family when it comes to paying the high costs involved in higher education.

    By: Paul Hatal Education> College and Universityl Sep 06, 2008

    How Can College Students Pay for College? Learn how to get college paid for today!

    By: Jared Washl Education> College and Universityl May 19, 2011

    Cheap college loans are financial aids to the college going students. You can apply for the loan online and offline, applying online though preferred.

    By: Julia Russelll Finance> Loansl May 20, 2008 lViews: 132

    The competition among students with their marks is becoming tougher and tougher to get admission in the best colleges of Delhi. Delhi university cut off marks seems to be unrealistic as it has touched the pinnacle in last few years.

    By: Bibon Pattrickl Education> College and Universityl Jun 01, 2012

    In order to perform a search and get the exact college textbook that is required you need the following information; Title, Author, Volume# or Edition#, and the ISBN number. Armed with this information you are able to search online or in other bookstore for the exact item for a college book and not pay university prices. There are many different sites online that offer a college textbook at a better price. But don't discount the local public library. You may be able to find your college textbook

    By: EvertonAl Education> College and Universityl May 31, 2012

    The prices of collect textbooks continue to rise. That's the bad news. And the good news is that there are ways to get cheap textbooks – you either rent or buy them from college bookstores online.

    By: EvertonAl Education> College and Universityl May 31, 2012

    Textbooks are your major expenses of every semester, and they can be very, very expensive. But there's good news here: you can buy them at discounted prices from 40% - 85%. And what do you need to do?

    By: EvertonAl Education> College and Universityl May 30, 2012

    Brilliant Tutorials is reaching out to students through this mode of learning. This institution reaches to millions of students through distance mode of education.

    By: Shipra Sinhal Education> College and Universityl May 28, 2012
    Howard Gottlieb

    Travel expenses, tournament entry fees, uniforms, equipment, instrument repairs, ingredients, or entertainments costs…are just a few reasons that groups and teams start fundraisers. Unfortunately these expenses cost as much whether your group is 8 or 88 members strong. Small groups may feel like they are at a disadvantage when it comes to raising money, but there are quite a few fundraisers that can help groups with fewer members raise lots of money.

    By: Howard Gottliebl Business> Fundraisingl Aug 20, 2010
    Howard Gottlieb

    Cheerleading has been around college campuses since the very beginning. Since the 1880s, students have enjoyed cheering their team on in a unified manner. Cheerleading has moved from the male dominated megaphone days, to the exclusive female in the short skirt, to present day, co-ed team inspired activity. Of course the cheerleading program is filled with gravity-defying stunts, short skirts, and lots of school spirit.

    By: Howard Gottliebl Education> College and Universityl Aug 20, 2010 lViews: 457
    Howard Gottlieb

    Student loans have become a fact of life for the modern day college student. They come in many different forms and range from interest free to exorbitant. They can be government subsidized, where the government covers the costs of interest charges, or from a bank, and can be short or long term. What matters though, is that the majority of students now utilize loans to cover the rising cost of education.

    By: Howard Gottliebl Education> College and Universityl Aug 19, 2010
    Howard Gottlieb

    In the olden days when people all walked barefoot through the snow, uphill, five miles to school, scholarship lists could be found at local libraries and universities. Students would scour the lists looking for scholarships they qualified for and then determine the requirements which usually included an essay, among other things, and then would send their information in through, gasp, the mail.

    By: Howard Gottliebl Education> College and Universityl Aug 19, 2010
    Howard Gottlieb

    Coverdell's. Uniform Gift to Minors Act, State 529 Plans, Prepaid Tuition Plans, Independent 529 Plans. It is a real maze out there and making sure one makes the right investment in college tuition plans can be challenging. The focus of this paper will be to discuss one type of college tuition plan the Independent 529 Plan. The Independent 529 Plan allows individuals to purchase future tuition and mandatory fees for a reduced price today. Currently these plans are accepted at over 220 private

    By: Howard Gottliebl Education> College and Universityl Aug 19, 2010

    Discuss this Article

    Author Box
    Articles Categories
    All Categories
    Quantcast