<p>Four Myths About College Costs <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/20/pf/college/myths_0502/index.htm%5B/url%5D">http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/20/pf/college/myths_0502/index.htm</a></p>
<p>I also just read that the most "in demand" degrees are computer, engineering and business.</p>
<p>On the other hand, as I check websites of the schools my S applied to last year, I see tuition increases in several places. University of Richmond tuition is up significantly, for example. Not very comforting as we face a second round of searches for younger siblings.</p>
<p>I think calling these "myths" is overstated. The fact is that college represents a major investment for most families. Just because it's not as bad as $25,000+ per year doesn't change that fact that most parents are looking at spending a good chunk of change.</p>
<p>That those 4 statements are "myths" does not help someone stuck by all of those circumstances. I know plenty of families who have an open mind about all of those things that end up tripped by all or some of those myths. Look at a bunch of schools, find that the best fits are expensive privates, find out that you make too much to get any aid, that the fact that you own your own business makes your assets out of this world, and the kid gets no merit money. I see it all of the time. Also, knowing the readership of "Money", I am not so sure how those are myths for many of their readers.</p>
<p>I personally find all four myths very close to reality:
1) Tuition for 2004 was more than 25K at the university my daughter attends.
2) Whatever savings you have are included in the financial aid calculation formulas even if they're not in the child's name, therefore "The more you save, the less aid you get"
3) In the area of the country where we live, it's not uncommon for a family with two adult earners to have over 100k in income, however this level of income almost automatically disqualifies you for the purposes of financial aid
4) Speaking about payoff: kids graduating from college have very little knowledge about what they will do in the real world. Very often, those four years were mostly spent on getting college experiences that ultimately have nothing to do with the real world out there. As a result, they often start in positions that strictly speaking shouldn't even require a college degree.</p>
<p>Yes myth #1 is interesting. Wish it were a myth in our case!</p>
<p>And apparently the idea that it costs money to live in a dorm and, well, eat, while one is in college is also a "myth", since those costs aren't mentioned in the article...</p>
<p>What a poorly reasoned article. </p>
<p>Myth number 2: The more you save, the less aid you get. The author refutes that first by saying that saving reduces loans. The author then says that, if you save in your name rather than your child's name, the impact on aid will be reduced. Neither example refutes the myth. If you save in your name, aid is less than if you didn't save at all. And fewer loans = less aid. </p>
<p>Myth number 3: The payoff isn't what it used to be. The author says this isn't true because half of families earning more than $80,000 receive financial aid for college. The author's faulty reasoning for this myth parallels that for myth number 2.</p>
<p>Myth number 4: The payoff isn't what it used to be. The author says college graduates make, on average $1,000,000 more than non-college graduates. The comparison is not valid unless the present value of both options is considered. I don't know that the expenses of college would outweigh the future earnings, but do recognize that the numbers as given by the author are not persuasive.</p>
<p>It sounds like the author and editors of that article didn't get full value from their college educations.</p>
<p>Well sure, we're in the over $80,000 group and my son got some financial aid:</p>
<p>a) $1,500 in work study (see, you get a job on campus . . . )</p>
<p>b) around $2,000 in a subsidized loan </p>
<p>The key words here are JOB and LOAN. Not exactly what comes to mind when you're thinking about financial aid.</p>
<p>I'll tell you about a myth: I myth all that money, some $300 thousand or so for the two kids' college educations.</p>
<p>over30:</p>
<p>I sympathize, but if you look at it from the point of the university (profs, administration), preference is given to students on work-study. It may be because they get more for their money (work-study is subsidized by the federal government), but it is also out a genuine desire to enable the students on work-study to earn the income they need. From the point of view of the profs or librarians or others who do the hiring, this consideration may lead to less than optimal decisions when hiring students.</p>
<p>Mackinaw:
I agree. Sometimes I wonder if it was a big mythtake...</p>
<p>Marite, I'm not complaining, and we do appreciate the work-study (and the loan). It's just funny to me when schools say "85% of our students receive financial aid" and "we can make this affordable for you." We heard this from several schools. Students and parents get stars in their eyes and are then sometimes bitterly disappointed. A neighbor described it as being similar to a "bait and switch" tactic.</p>
<p>I noticed what Kluge did... that these costs do not include room and board. I believe that our flagship State U gives out full tuition waivers for the kids who are in the top 5% of their class... however, this is just a tuition waiver. Room and board cost more than tuition, and fees aren't waived, either. So a kid going under that scholarship would certainly be in the "less than $6k for tuition [zip] and fees [fairly substantial]," but the big costs are in room and board. </p>
<p>There is also the rural living thing - much, much cheaper to go to school in the boonies. My l.s. is about $15k/year cheaper than the ones in cities, for example... but what if the kid wants to go to a school in the city? What if the state schools are just more expensive than other state schools? I imagine that the Cal schools are more expensive than the Oklahoma ones. </p>
<p>Most importantly, the article does not address how many of those people are full-time undergraduates! Does this include community college people who are going for an associates? Just a thought...</p>
<p>I always get a kick out of articles like the money one, until I realize some folks take the article too much at face value. To whit:</p>
<p>Yes, most public schools charge less than 12,000. It's too bad that, at many of those, it takes 5-6 years to graduate because the state cut so many faculty positions that kids can't squeeze the classes in; or they're schools like U. Mass Boston, Govenor's State, community colleges etc. - schools not likely to be on our kid's lists. </p>
<p>Private schools? Pine Manor college, in beautiful Brookline, MA, charges just 13,000 a year in tuition. You want your kid to go there? Thomas University is a Georgia financial gem - a private school that costs just 9,000/year in tuition. So what?</p>
<p>I find it more amazing how similar the tuition charges are at top (and I use the term loosely) private Universities, and how top pubics, like U. Mich, are racheting out of state tuition toward private school rates. </p>
<p>Sometimes I do wonder who Money mag's audience is.</p>
<p>I thought about the community college people, too. Those tuition costs are generally significantly less than four-year colleges and could skew the results. </p>
<p>The author should have used the total cost of college, not just the tuition. Room and board can be twice as much at one school as at another. Has anyone noticed that room and board at Olin is higher than any other schools in the Boston area, and possibly the highest in the nation? I wonder if Olin has elevated room fees to compensate for the free tuition. </p>
<p>Many colleges also charge a miscellany of student fees. When these fees are required (for instance, when colleges require students to purchase a specific computer) they should be included in the cost of education.</p>
<p>Tuition and fees cover different things, with some overlap, depending on whether school is private or public. Tuition tends to pay academic costs, and fees pay student support and facility expenses. [Room and board are another issue entirely.] Some state laws regulate how tuition can be charged and changed, and administrators can only spend that money a certain way. Fees are determined by various in-house departments, though usually requiring internal feedback and trustee approval, and those departments have to balance their own costs (like health services, parking, etc.) Those fees cannot be used (in most states) for academic purposes. Hence there are frequently frustrated contituencies on campuses, complaining as to why new dormitories are being built, but the English classes are too large, etc. It is a different pile of money. When schools offer merit scholarships, they may be for tuition, but not for fees, and that can be quite a chunk of change.</p>
<p>Mackinaw,
Great line on "myth"..... BTW, which schools, degrees, and are they working?</p>
<p>Nothing mythical there; the reality of college costs have been with us since before the oldest came into being. I'm well beyond six figures in checks written and have more than another six figures to go before the undergraduate tariffs are over. There's been zero offered in financial aid, but I'm not complaining. I look at it as the aid is going to folks who need it more than me.</p>
<p>Funding college for our kids has always been a priority and compound interest is a wonderful thing. After basic necessities, we always paid the college funds next. That meant driving the cars for an extra year or two, passing on the week at the ocean, or doing without patio furniture, but both my kids and I continue to be debt free.</p>
<p>I admit, I fell into a lucrative second career a few years back which didn't hurt any, but even with my former very middle class income, we could have taken care of the college bills without loans.</p>
<p>My point, I guess, is private college was outrageously expensive, in relative terms, back when I attended school. I acknowledged from the start costs weren't going to go down and made it a priority in our lives. I've been fortunate that I've been able to earn enough money to pay for the basics in life and have the flexibility to put some away. It never seemed like enough each month, but it built up over time. I had a very blunt deal with my kids - they did everything they could academically to get into college and I did everything I could financially to hopefully allow them to attend the school of their choice. It was always possible one of us would fall short of the goal, but it wouldn't be from a lack of effort.</p>