Tag: college costs


Most top colleges have high off-campus housing costs

Posted on September 17th, 2016

"As students and their parents are filling out applications this fall and are crunching the numbers on financial aid and student loans, they should also factor in cost of housing." -- Jeremy Wacksman, CMO of Zillow

As we’ve written before, there’s more to rising college expenses than just increasing tuition costs–off-campus housing costs are also skyrocketing, adding to students’ financial burdens even more and forcing them to take on more student debt. And unfortunately, attending a higher-ranked college often means paying more for housing, a new study has found. Elite colleges […]

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Off-campus housing costs rising for college students

Posted on August 28th, 2016

While most of the focus on rising college costs has been related to tuition, there’s another factor that’s driving college students into debt: high off-campus housing costs.

A recent article from USA Today outlined the impact rising off-campus housing costs are having on students.

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Summer jobs aren’t enough to pay for college anymore

Posted on August 2nd, 2016

Millennials may hear their parents reminisce about putting themselves through college by working a summer job and part-time during the school year, but those days are long gone, NPR reports.

NPR broke down the costs of attending college in 1981-82 and how much students would have to work in order to cover their expenses that year. They then compared this to how much students would need to work to pay for college today with a minimum wage part-time or summer job, and the results are striking.

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The worst colleges cost the most for low-income students

Posted on July 15th, 2016

Many students and families assume that the more expensive a college is, the more prestigious and the higher its quality.

This leads some families to overpay for college under the assumption that there is a positive correlation between price and education quality.

But a recent report from Third Way found that that’s not the case.

In fact, they found the lowest-ranked colleges charged low- and moderate-income students more than higher-ranked schools.

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When college costs don’t add up

Posted on June 7th, 2016

"You really want to keep the debt burden to around the size of your expected first-year salary for the career you’re going into." -- Greg Potts, VP of Enrollment Management at Becker College

We often discuss the dangers of taking on more student debt than you’ll be able to repay. A recent Boston Globe article highlights the difficulty many students, particularly those who are low-income, have with repaying their student loans after graduation. Comparing college net price to graduate salaries In the interactive graphic below, you can see […]

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Even community colleges are getting less affordable, study shows

Posted on June 2nd, 2016

"If you’re making $10,000 to $30,000 a year, and you need 10 percent to 15 percent of family income to attend community college, it’s just not going to happen." -- Joni Finney

We’ve written previously about how college overall has gotten more expensive, and even though financial aid has reached record levels, it still hasn’t been enough to make up the difference for most families, particularly low-income ones. And a new study from the Institute for Research on Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania confirms that college […]

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How to calculate and pay out-of-pocket college costs

Posted on May 18th, 2016

In order to compare financial aid awards from different colleges, you need to be able to understand the different out-of-pocket costs for each college–the total cost you’ll have to pay after grants and scholarships are applied.

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Texas colleges open food pantries for students

Posted on April 21st, 2016

"We need to make sure that there are virtually no obstacles and barriers to a student pursuing their education." -- Catie McCorry-Andalis, dean of students at the University of Texas at El Paso

With the price of college continuing to rise, some students, particularly those from low-income families, have found themselves struggling to make ends meet. That’s why some colleges in Texas have taken a step to help, by setting up food pantries for students to pick up free groceries, according to The Texas Tribune. There’s a stereotype that most college […]

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Treating students as stocks, investors front college tuition

Posted on April 4th, 2016

With college costs higher than ever before, and families taking on more debt to pay for college, some students have sought alternative routes to finance their education.

Some students are now using income-share agreements, or ISAs, to help pay for college. With an ISA, students get money from investors and they agree to pay a percentage of their future income to those investors over a set period of time.

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Podcast: The rising cost of a college education

Posted on March 19th, 2016

Students in the U.S. pay more for college than in any other country. It’s no secret that the cost of college has risen astronomically and continues to increase each year.

But why is this the case? And what can be done to prevent costs from rising even further?

In a recent podcast from the University of Pennsylvania’s Knowledge@Wharton High School, Wharton management professor Peter Cappelli and PricewaterhouseCoopers Partner Michael Deniszczuk discuss why costs have risen, how financial aid can affect the cost of college and how student loans have affected borrowers and the economy as a whole.

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