In 18 Years A FORBES Top College Will Cost You Over $500,000

Parents Forum
61

I do not doubt that elite colleges will reach the level predicted here. I think that it will actually happen faster than predicted. In addition to sufficient demand from the wealthy U.S. applicants, I believe that there is increasing demand from wealthy international applicants.

More troubling to me is the COA growth at the state flagship level. Many/most of these do not meet full need and have poor aid. (I am from Illinois, so maybe I am jaded because UoI instate COA has breached $30K per annum.)

It seems to be that an instate flagship education should be a reasonable goal for the middle class. It is slipping away.

PS:
(Actually, it’s worse, for an undergraduate in-state engineering major:)

Residency: Illinois resident
Student Level: Undergraduate
Start Term: Fall 2015
Credit Hours: 18
TUITION
Total Tuition: $17,040
FEES *
AFMFA $654
General Fee $586
Health Insurance $572
Health Service Fee $464
Library/IT $488
Service Fee $576
Student Initiated Fees $132
Transportation Fee $118
Total Fees: $3,590
ADDITIONAL EXPENSES
Room & Board $11,010
Books & Supplies $1,200
Other Expenses ** $2,500
Total Additional Expenses: $14,710
TOTAL
$35,340
)

35 * 4 = $140K. In 15 years? 300K+

62

@Dave_N, as state support for higher education has diminished, many publics are turning in to defacto privates.

63

[QUOTE=""]
More troubling to me is the COA growth at the state flagship level. Many/most of these do not meet full need and have poor aid. (I am from Illinois, so maybe I am jaded because UoI instate COA has breached $30K per annum.)

[/QUOTE]

Perhaps it is not such a bad deal to have to pay $30K a year in order to attend the #1 party school in the nation. :o)

64

Any initiative to use taxpayer money or loan forgiveness to help students with private school tuition debts will only make the matter worse. It’s only when students begin to walk away from private schools because they know they’ll have huge debts and they can’t pin it on someone else, will the schools have any incentive to reign in costs. Imagine a car dealer who turns away most of the people who walk into the showroom because there aren’t enough cars - why would he keep their prices down?

65

There is an admission by the Fed recently on the news.
http://www.bloomberg.com/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-09/why-is-college-tuition-rising-blame-student-loans-fed-says