Five States Where College Tuition is Soaring

[Candid]

http://www.smartmoney.com/borrow/student-loans/5-states-where-college-tuition-is-soaring-1344892974773/#printMode

[FaithManor]

http://www.smartmoney.com/borrow/student-loans/5-states-where-college-tuition-is-soaring-1344892974773/#printMode

 

Thanks for posting. It would be interesting to know how much room/board went up during that period. So many students can't commute so the tuition issue isn't even the whole picture. Many of the uni's in Michigan charge more for room and board than tuition and some cut merit aid so scholarships only apply to tuition. A full ride many times means, tuition paid in full, maybe books, but the student still has $10,000.00 to come up with in room/board plus fees for labs, etc. Of course, these same uni's are slowly finding out that in Michigan's current economy, many kids are opting to live at home and commute to their nearest state U with commutes of up to 90 minutes each way because it's still far cheaper than room and board for which they aren't receiving aid.

 

Faith

[Jane in NC]

Thanks for posting. It would be interesting to know how much room/board went up during that period. So many students can't commute so the tuition issue isn't even the whole picture. Many of the uni's in Michigan charge more for room and board than tuition and some cut merit aid so scholarships only apply to tuition. A full ride many times means, tuition paid in full, maybe books, but the student still has $10,000.00 to come up with in room/board plus fees for labs, etc. Of course, these same uni's are slowly finding out that in Michigan's current economy, many kids are opting to live at home and commute to their nearest state U with commutes of up to 90 minutes each way because it's still far cheaper than room and board for which they aren't receiving aid.

 

Faith

 

Not just lab fees. There are general fees in some states that bring those charges up to the charge for tuition. Some states offer "free tuition" to students with high test scores. Sounds good until one sees the bill for general fees.

 

A huge problem that also needs to be considered is that of faculty/course cutbacks. Some state unis are making it close to impossible to graduate in four years by limiting the number of sections of required course offerings. Students who are juniors and seniors at state schools can be asked about this when the prospective student tours.

[Tullia]

Tuition isn't rising in NM as quickly as in other states, but we are seeing significant cutbacks in staffing/course offerings. There's a statewide moratorium on new campuses at the same time enrollments are at record levels. New fees pop up every year. Ds' advice to those who intend to start at the CC and then transfer to a university is to make the change fairly quickly in order to maximize the state lottery scholarship (limited to 8 semesters). His experience was that the upper level CC courses needed to earn an AA or AS are frequently not offered.

[Frances]

Here in Oregon we are seeing the effects of the soaring tuition costs and budget cuts in CA and WA with a huge influx of out of state students to our state universities, especially from CA. They are actually helping our state universities' bottom line as out of state tuition is significantly pricier. It's all quite ironic, as here in OR, the state has not traditionally supported the universities very well, so they are used to relying on other sources for funding. Thus, they were able to weather the recent economic downturn fairly well. While public universities in states like CA and WA that have traditionally strongly financially supported the schools have been left reeling.

[HSchoolmom]

the whole college cost is amazing,