Thoughts On The Cost Of College, $$$!!!

Going to college can be a tremendous cost for those who are trying to upgrade their education, but what is the true nature of the amount of funding that is needed to attend an institution of higher learning.

One of the largest concerns has been that people have not been able to keep up with their educational plans, and henceforth find that they are taking more time to complete their degrees in order to graduate.

For those who plan on making their stay at college adhere to the four-year standard, they may soon discover that they are extending their time to several more years to acquire their degrees. People are beginning to discuss with other students how their plans have abruptly changed. Many are still trying to figure the reason for this drastic change.

“There are a lot more students staying around another year than I thought there would be when I got here.”

A study performed by the Higher Education Research Institute of UCLA has stated that nine out of ten freshmen believe that they will be able to complete their degree within a period of four-years. This national survey has concluded that about 45 percent will have extended their educational pursuits beyond six years. It shows that the standard view of graduating from college in four years is not true, and such people who plan on attending should investigate the nature of hidden variables that may be present in their plans.

Most students don’t consider the aspects of many different types of situations that may present themselves to the student without a warning.

Most families that save funding to send their child to an institution of higher learning soon discover that there are additional costs that have not been calculated into the budget. The extra time that is needed to complete the degree tends to offset their plans making any type of traditional plan obsolete.

Students are discovering that they are needing to have extra finances to complete their schooling. The average cost of adding an extra year on to a four-year university is around $63,000 which includes books, fees, and various other expenses that must be tabulated into the costs of the added year in college. The factor also takes into account that that student will not be employed as planned, but will still be in school which accounts for lost wages. Students find that they are becoming lost in the shuffle of educational plans that are neither realistic or conventional to the current situation as reported by the Complete College America advocacy group.

Another separate report done by a Los Angeles group, Campaign for College Opportunity, has discovered that a student that is at a California State University that ends up taking six years to acquire their degree instead of four years will end up costing an additional $58,000 as well as earn $52,900 less as they progress through their work careers. This huge cost on both sides of the extreme comes to an average of $110,900. The proportion of lost finances has a high correlation with time spent in college and thus shows that choices made in one’s academic career may need to be reevaluated to accommodate for the recent changes in acquiring a degree.

“The cost of college isn’t just what students and their families pay in tuition or fees,” reports Michele Siquerios, executive director, Campaign for College Opportunity. “It’s about time.” “That’s the hidden costs of a college education.

The central problem is the hidden costs that surround going to college. Many of these variables can’t be budget or surmised unless you are actually dealing with them. The problem is so great that most parents plan on a four-year plan instead of an extended forecast.

The real focus is to alert people of the change and to get them to adapt to the new format of how their children will complete their education. This can be further seen as stated by Sylvia Hurtado, the director of higher Educational Research Institute at UCLA.

“So hidden that most families still unknowingly plan on four years for bachelor’s degree.”

This can also lead to issues between parents and their children as they expect their child to be done with their education. This causes more than just financial issues, but can also call family problems and other estranged issues because the student and the parent aren’t considering that it is going to take more than four years to complete a degree when that is the norm that is being reported. The facts aren’t being adjusted to accommodate for the recent change in trends associated with a four-year university.

Because students plan on accomplishing this goal in four-years, they don’t plan their early years to work around these changes. Students don’t plan an academic career to adapt to the changing aspects of college and graduating. By the time they have figured out that their plan is not adequate enough, it is already too late and they are now trying to do recovery, instead of planning ahead to avoid the unforeseen problem.

Another important aspect is that financial institutions that invest in people who plan on going to school are only set up for a four-year investment strategy and doesn’t take into account that there may be offsets in the future. Students will soon discover that they don’t have the financial compatibility to complete their educational goals.

Another key point that must be addressed, is that institutions of higher learning that post the highest intuition such as the elite schools aren’t having this issue about adding on extra years. A student may find that it is wise to actually attend a high financial ranking university in order to complete their four-year goal.