Everyone wants to go to college, everyone wants to have fun at college and make new friends but can everyone afford college? If you ask your parents if they are still paying off student loans they are probably going to say yes. A good amount of adults, like my mom, are still paying off college student loans.
Melanie Hanson from the Education Data Initiative wrote a report on the college tuition inflation, saying that “The price is 40 times what it was in 1963.” Preston Cooper from American Enterprise Institution says, “The price has gone from $7,800 in 1990 to $21,500 in 2020, which is a 175% rise.”
When you look at how long it is taking these adults to pay off their student loans, which were nothing compared to now, makes many teens wonder how long it will take them to pay off their loans.
Who doesn’t want to go to their dream college or go to the school with the best program for their classes but what stops many kids from going there is the cost.
States like Ohio have public colleges such as Ohio State University, Ohio University and Kent State are all expensive and since funding to public institutions have been cut that only makes the price rise.
This is making kids either not go to college cause they can’t afford it or try to look for a school out of state. Looking for a school out of state can be a problem too since they make you pay out-of-state tuition, which is more than the in-state tuition. The average cost between in state and out of state is $11,900 for in state and $31,800 for out of state.
Many kids want to leave their home state for college and live a life away from home, but when they can’t afford to leave and are stuck where they are, it makes people less excited to go to college or they just don’t go.
A big trend now I’ve seen on the internet and from talking to people is studying abroad. This is often cheaper than going to a school in the United States. According to GoAbroad and Top universities, places like Norway, Germany and Taiwan are all cheap places to go to study, giving students the same away-from-home, and social experiences as in country schools.
The average between studying abroad and staying in state for college is $14,000 for going abroad $9,000-33,000 for college in America. If you choose to study abroad you can still get hired by US companies upon graduation. People also travel a lot when they study abroad to maximize their experiences since they have probably never been to a country outside of the United States and want to explore new places and customs.
If college and studying abroad is out of the students’ budget they might have to look at community college or online college, but the problem with these options is not getting the full college experience. Community college is 35-40% cheaper costing than college. Depending on the community college, you can earn certain degrees Stark State for example you can earn up to an Associate’s Degree and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Online college is different. You can earn any degree if you do an online college. These options are great for people who can’t afford to pay what schools are asking, people who just want to work and do school on the side, or for those who don’t like to be on a campus with thousands of people.
Before committing to a college and going into debt with loans look at all the options out there and slowly narrow it down to the ones that best suit you and your financial situation so you are not stuck paying off student loans like your parents for your whole life.
