College; It’s Less Expensive Than You Believe

Actually, college is less expensive than most people believe. In fact, it is far less expensive. Here is proof, drawn from a scientific poll conducted by the sociology department of a large Midwestern university.

In a scientific survey, a large public university in the Midwestern United States found that people were very badly misinformed about the annual cost of higher education. In fact, people overestimated the cost of a year of college study by about seventeen thousand five hundred dollars.

The survey group did realize that public colleges and universities are far less expensive than their private counterparts, but very few members of the group had any idea how relatively inexpensive online degree programs are. In case you do not know either, it costs much less to attend an online college than it does to attend a comparably based traditional institution of higher education.

How is it that people know so little about college costs? To begin with, colleges do a very poor job of making their costs clear. Although colleges produce beautiful publications for prospective students and their parents, few are specific about costs. Similarly, college costs are often hard to find on most college and university websites. In addition, the media seems to focus on our nation’s most selective and highest price colleges while paying far less attention to cheaper alternatives.

Even when people are aware of the actual costs of tuition and other expenses, they are often unaware of the monies available to help them reduce those costs. Remember that few students pay “list price”.

If you or someone in your family is exploring higher education, it is important that you investigate and determine actual educational costs. Do not believe second hand information about college cost or the availability of financial aid…much of it is erroneous.

What is most critical is that you do not assume that you can not afford higher education. The truth is that if you “shop” carefully for colleges and take advantage of the financial aid for which you are eligible, a higher education is well within reach.

Jim Evans is an educational counselor who guides students wishing to earn an online degree or a traditional college degree.