By Greg Stevens
Certainly,
as readers of this article about college planning, you are parents
involved in your children’s lives and you want only the best for them.
Parents want their children to be at least as successful you have been
in life. This does not just mean monetary success. We all want happy
and healthy kids. Monetary success is also very important in the world
today. The best way for children to achieve success in life, monetarily
and otherwise, is to enter and graduate from a respectable college or
university.
Studies show that young adults who attend college have better critical
thinking skills, are healthier, smoke far less and are more physically
active than those who do not attend college.
Other studies show that over a college graduate’s lifetime, they will
earn over one million dollars more than someone with just a high school
education. Investment in a college education is the best investment you
as concerned parents can make in your children’s future. It’s just
that simple.
Since 1984, tuition for colleges in America has increased an average of
8% per year. So, about every 9-10 years, college tuition doubles – and
there reason to believe this will be slowing down anytime soon. With
tuition alone (and these numbers are in today’s dollars, not when your
kids will be attending in 5, 10 or 15 years down the road) you’re
talking about a staggering amount of money. Add things like living
expenses, travel, books and fees, it goes from staggering to outright
mind-boggling!
Colleges are in a race to attract the best, the brightest, the most
promising students graduating high schools today. Some of the reasons
for these increases are the competitiveness among universities to
attract these students and to be tops among the various organizations
that rank colleges and universities. So facilities have to be upgraded
and promoted to attract top students.
Professor’s salaries, tenured and otherwise, are another reason why
college is so expensive. In order to attract top professors, a premium
is paid and tenure is offered. Attracting the best professors is
expensive.
Looking at the University of Texas at Austin, the ‘cost of attendance’
(COA) right now, in 2011 dollars, is about 23,000 dollars per year. The
COA is the sum total of expenses for young person to attend a college
of university. Most private universities are twice the current UT COA -
or more.
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