The cost of room and board is the killer. If a student is willing to live at home and commute, as many here in California do, it doesn’t seem to me that a four year degree is out of reach for those who plan a bit, are willing to take out small loans if necessary and work in the summer. $6500 a year tuition at a CSU (plus books and extras) seems doable with a bit of planning, imo. California’s minimum wage is $9 an hour (and will increase to $10 in 2016). It should be possible to make $2500-3000 in the summers, even in the late high school years, if a student is motivated. Many college students are able to work part time without GPA issues during the school year, too, depending on the demands of their major. If parents can’t afford to contribute to tuition but are willing to house and feed their kids, I don’t think college is prohibitive in California. It may mean they leave with a loan to pay off, but in five years at $200 a month, a $12,000 loan could be handled.
It’s really the costs of living- room and board, transportation, and extras like phones, books, computers, etc. that make up most of the expenses for college students willing to go to a state school. And in California, we have some pretty good ones, still, and you don’t have to have a 3.5 to be admitted.
Yes, this is often a viable option for many students in many places. Of course, this requires parental support in allowing the student to live in the parents’ house for free or low cost. It is much harder these days for students without any parental support (including living at the parents’ house) to work their way through college than when their parents’ generation went to college.
Another big difference – I was independent by the time I was 20, and my parents’ income was not considered for financial aid. Now, my 20 year old D would have to join the military, get married, or have a child to be independent for financial aid purposes.
Ucbalumnus, I agree. So we’re really talking mainly about students who wish to live away from home for the four college years at a state school, and also for those for whom a state school isn’t appealing.
Private and high ranking college tuitions are sky high, and probably not sustainable, but I still believe a decent college degree is an obtainable goal for families who are willing to help their kids out minimally by letting them stay home (such a bad thing?) for a few more years while they get their education.True for the majority, at least, in California. This scenario probably doesn’t apply to the very poor who need to work to support families, or those living in rural areas far from colleges. These are the students who really need the financial help, imo.
From my vantage point, the biggest shift, over the past 20-30 years, is this “need” by college seniors to “go away” to college. Very few want to commute from home to college, thereby adding anywhere from $10K to $15K per year to their college cost. For a lot of college students, Room & Board cost is the strongest determinant as to whether a school is affordable. Then we have the subset of students from middle income families who “look down” at their State Universities or Community Colleges, even though that might be the ONLY affordable option available to them.
For STEM majors (example, engineering), working while a sophomore/junior/senior will be nearly impossible, if one expect to graduate with a “decent” GPA. Most of my engineering undergraduate peers who worked during their freshman/sophomore years, dropped out of college (a small number changed their major) due to the degree of difficulty of the engineering prerequisites. I worked minimum wage, 40-hours/week (4:00 PM to midnight, getting home after 1:00am) on Wall Street for the first 1.5 years, while doing 16 credits per semester. I did miss a number of my 8:00am classes my first semester and my grades DID take a hit. I was able to finish my engineering degree in four years (135 total credits, no summer sessions). Very few college students could do what I did back then (early 1980s) and the few that attempted it, dropped out of college. BTW, the tuition back then was only $1,200/year (now $6.5K)! Was lucky to get a job with a company that paid for my masters degree, with the only stipulation that we attend one of a select group of 5 universities and complete the degree within 1-year (and with excellent grades).
There is affordable college option out there, if a student live at home and attend a 4-year university or attend a community college for 2-years, then transfer to a 4-year institution. The problem, as stated above, is that for many students, this option is unacceptable.
Just tuition at my local state college is 15k.
Oh and I do commute. The university purposely makes it hard to commute. I spend about 2 hours everyday commuting and it really sucks. That’s a huge chunk wasted every day. Oh and according to Google maps that U is only 25 minutes away. They fail to account for poor parking and the public transportation I have to take from the commuter lots.
Or whose parents will not let them live at home during college, or where there is enough family drama to negatively impact academic studies (which can apply to high school as well as college).
It is true that the CC->stateU option is commonly overlooked or disdained, even when there are no issues with living at the parents’ house, and the CC and stateU offer the desired academic programs and majors and are within reasonable commuting distance.
Excellent point! I was an independent student at age 18, which allow me to get a full award for both TAP and Pell Grant. TAP (New York), pretty much covered by tuition and Pell help with transportation, book and some living expense cost. This option was eliminated years ago, making it very difficult for some college students to afford college today.
So far the best solutions are to get an under the table job as a nanny, or try to find a job as a bartender at a club when you are underage.
What a law abiding group of problem-solvers we have here!
I think living at home is a viable solution for tens of thousands of college students who are already doing just that. And getting a job- again, tens of thousands of kids doing that.
Seems like a dog bites man kind of day around here.
Sorry romani. I will admit that in California, we have a pretty good deal. I always shake my head at those who bash our state. In spite of whatever financial issues,(high taxes, high gas priced, regulations, etc.) that people complain about, we are able to offer a decent undergraduate education at less than the national average ($8,000+).
Yep, 15K would be tough without any parental help.
What are the poor students who DONT have a local CC or State U option supposed to do? There are hundreds of thousands of them across the US. And even if a student can start his college education as a CC, many states have jacked up tuition rates at their State U’s so much that the possibility of getting a degree has effectively been eliminated for thousands of students because of the cost.
This is where I agree with Bernie Sanders statement that tuition for a public college education should be free. AS it is in so many other developed counties.
Not trying to start a political fight here, but from the viewpoint of too many businesses, a 4 yr degree these days =a HS diploma when many of us were young. . Its now what’s required for any YOUNG person to even have a chance to be considered for anything above a low paying minimum wage job .
Moonchild, I’m envious of California’s system. Here in Michigan we have a crumbling infrastructure, poor job prospects, no public transport outside of uni towns, and skyrocketing tuition… Without any state aid ( unlike California and many other states who have help for either low income or high achieving students).
menloparkmom-I agree with Bernie on many issues, but I’m not so sure about this one. Why should the taxpayers send my kids to college when we can easily pay? I think we need a more comprehensive and inclusive government financial aid system that allows those who can’t afford college to go. And I think this aid should apply to technical schools too, for those who want training in a specific employable skill- not just tradition liberal arts universities.
That would be a misrepresentation both of what has been specifically said as well as the general point which is that there are a lot of good jobs outside the realm of minimum wage that students would be able to prepare themselves for.
That would be a mistake. When things are free, people don’t place any value on them. Look what happened when it was so easy to get substantial loans to go to ridiculous for-profit “schools”.
18 "It seems like it would be a good idea to develop a skill during HS that would enable you to work part time in college at a higher rate than minimum wage. Common sense."
Agreed. My son learned web design on his own and worked independently from his junior year of high school all through college and even afterwards, in-between his “real” jobs. He made good money (and reported his income for tax purposes). I have friends whose kids taught swimming lessons, taught English as a second language, made money as tech geeks fixing computer problems (especially for older folks) and tutored math for younger students. They were paid at least $10 an hour, usually more.
It helps if you come from a family that values education and encourages initiative and creativity. Not all kids are so lucky. But kids of CC parents are!
Of course it would be optimal if kids in HS were developing the kinds of skills that make them eligible for non-minimum wage jobs. I tutored in college- it paid about five times the hourly rate of the typical campus job. One of my siblings was a psychiatric aide in a prison. My spouse worked as a statistical analyst from Freshman year onward.
But lucrative jobs appropriate for college students assume that a student is living in a place where these jobs are available- and not being filled by working adults with even better skills. AND that there is transportation (nobody is walking home from prison at 11 pm when the evening shift ends).
Just saying- it’s easy to tell a kid “don’t fold sweaters at Old Navy- you should be doing web design for $50/hour”.
Around here the kids in NHS tutor for free, and kids taking the same class together sometimes help each other in study groups. Many teachers are available before and after school to answer questions.
Adults who tutor tend to have advanced degrees.
I used to agree with this, but after reading thousands of threads on the FA forum here and knowing too many heartbreaking stories in real life about parents who could but won’t pay, I have to disagree. There are too many parents out there who think education should be a student’s responsibility (I paid my way, you can do the same!), who use educational funding as a source of control, who come from divorced parents who won’t pay unless the other one does and the other one won’t, etc, etc, etc.
Yes, it is mostly poor students who get screwed over by tuition in this country. However, those from high income families shouldn’t have to rely on the whims of their parents to get an education either.
Private schools can continue to charge however much they please. However, public schools should be freely accessible regardless of income level- high or low.
“Private schools can continue to charge however much they please. However, public schools should be freely accessible regardless of income level- high or low.”
Exactly ! Just like it is for high school.