Educating yourself about college costs

College costs are something that are not pressed on hard enough in our high schools and in some cases are not discussed at all.  I know personally that not one person ever spoke to me about college costs and loans.  Looking back it’s not even enough to bring the subject up, it’s something that needs to be stressed as an important topic to educate yourself about.

High school students are just kids.  We forget that these young people that are applying for college are just 16, 17, 18 year’s old.  They don’t know the difference between a public or a private institution.  They don’t realize how a loan today will affect them tomorrow.  They don’t realize or perhaps just don’t think about what it will be like to be repaying loans for 10 or 20 years.

A negative stigma has developed with community colleges (or junior college).  I myself said that I wouldn’t even consider going to a “lowly” community college.  I thought community colleges were just for those who weren’t smart enough for higher learning.  I was very ignorant.  I ended up attending a four-year private institution.  What did it cost me?  $33,000 a year.

I recently learned that in most states if you complete your associate’s degree at a community college that you will automatically be accepted to any in-state school to complete your bachelor’s.  Not only do you not have to worry about being accepted, but you save an enormous amount of money.  My local community college is about $1,850 a semester.  To get your associate’s it would cost roughly $7,400.  Two years at my private institution was $66,000.

Most state schools in my area are about $7,000 a year for tuition.  If you live off campus and commute, you’re talking about $14,000 for your final two years.  This brings your total four-year degree to $21,400, less than one year at my private institution.

These figures are all assuming that you didn’t automatically qualify for any scholarships.  Perhaps you didn’t.  But there are thousands of scholarships out there that many people just don’t take the time to research nor apply for.  It ends up in the same boat as educating yourself about college costs.  Many young adults just don’t realize how valuable these scholarships are and how much money they will save.  You’ll save on your college loan as well as the interest you would have had to pay on that loan.

It’s amazing to think about how easy and how much cheaper it is to get your four-year degree by simply doing some research.  I think this is mostly on our parents and teachers though to educate our children about these important issues.