Paying for College is Scary

Right now, parents of high school seniors are sitting on pins and needles, waiting to find out where their students will get admitted to college. 

Getting in is the exciting part.

Paying for college is the scary part. 

Tuition of $50,000 per year (plus $20,000 in housing and other required college costs) is no longer preposterous. 

Reality is about to hit families who did not consider the cost of college before their students applied to schools they cannot afford.

And that’s the sad part.

Students across the country are about to be told for the first time that they cannot go to the college they worked so hard to get into. Their parents will feel guilty for not being able to fulfill a promise they naively made – telling their kids that they’ll be able to go to any college they get admitted to.

For others, the notion of “rising college costs” and “college debt” will go from news headlines to becoming very personal. These students will join 43 million other American students for whom the choice of attending a specific college impacts their every financial move for decades with burdensome college debt.

$1.5 trillion in college debt will suddenly become very real. Alarmingly, that rising figure only accounts for student debt, it does include the college debt that parents and grandparents take on for their kids and grandkids.

Some families watched their students apply to pricey schools, completely aware that if they are accepted, they’ll have some big decisions to make. Will they use savings or retirement funds to pay for college? Will they change their lifestyles, work longer, or plan on their kids living at home after they graduate?

Inexperienced in all the complexities of the college process, trusting families rely on their high school and private counselors to guide them.

College counselors typically do not consider costs when creating a student’s College List.

Perhaps it’s because they don’t see it as their responsibility to help families pay for college. Or they haven’t learned how to help families – especially those of us who do not qualify for need-based financial aid – save on college.  Most college counselors are evaluated on where students get admitted... not whether they actually attend those schools, transfer because of cost, drop out because they cannot pay for college, or drown in college debt. 

Getting into college is one thing. Paying for it is another.?

It’s not acceptable for college advisors not to include paying for college as part of their guidance.

That is the preventable part.

High schools take out big ads in their local newspapers bragging about all the high-ranking, expensive colleges their students were admitted to. Meanwhile, private counselors boast admissions successes on their websites.

Admission is seen as the goal, regardless of the financial implications.

That’s the unjust part. 

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