Tuition Isn't the Only College Expense on the Rise

WASHINGTON -- Despite all the grumbling about tuition increases and student loan costs, other college expenses also are going up.

The price of housing and food trumps tuition costs for students who attend two- and four-year public universities in their home states, according to a College Board survey. Even with the lower interest rates on student loans that President Barack Obama signed into law, students are eyeing bills that are growing on just about every line.

A look at typical college students' budgets last year and how they're changing:

Community Colleges

The public two-year schools charged in-state students an average $3,131 last year, up almost 6 percent from the previous year. While the tuition hike was larger than at other types of schools, students at community colleges saw the smallest increase in room and board costs -- a 1 percent increase to $7,419. Total charges for students to attend an in-state public two-year school: $10,550.

Tuition and fees at community colleges are up 24 percent beyond overall inflation over the past five years, according to the College Board.

Public Four-Year Colleges

Tuition for students attending public four-year schools in their state was an average $8,655 last year, a 5 percent jump from the previous year. They paid more than that -- $9,205 -- for housing and food. These schools, like other four-year schools, posted a 4 percent jump in housing costs. Add in books and supplies, transportation and other costs and the total reaches $17,860 to attend an in-state public school, such as a student from Tallahassee attending Florida State University. When grants and scholarships are included, the average student pays $12,110 at such schools.

For students who choose to attend state schools outside their home state, the costs increase to $30,911. They pay the same $9,205 price tag for room and board, but the tuition rates are more expensive. The typical student who crossed state lines to attend a public college in 2012 paid $21,706 in tuition and fees after grants and scholarships -- a 4 percent jump from the previous year.

Over the past five years, the tuition sticker price at public four-year colleges is up 27 percent beyond overall inflation.

Private Schools

On the surface, private four-year schools are the most costly colleges, with the average student's sticker price coming in at $39,518 for all expenses. Tuition and fees were $29,056 last year -- another 4 percent jump -- while room and board ran to $10,462. After grants and scholarships, the average student paid $23,840 to attend schools such as Yale or Stanford.

The tuition at private schools was up 13 percent beyond overall inflation over the past five years adjusted for inflation.

 source: dailyfinance.com

Cut college tuition by getting 4-year degree in 3 years

A 25% tuition break first offered three years ago by Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., paid off this spring for a dozen new graduates. All they had to do was squeeze four years of study into three.

Hartwick, a small private liberal arts college, is at the forefront of a recent upswing in colleges that, spurred by the recession and concerns over crushing college debt, are encouraging students to save money by shortening the time it takes to earn a degree. This fall, three-year degrees will be an option at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. Minnesota State University in Mankato plans to make them available in 2013. Missouri's Office of Economic Development is reviewing applications for grants to offer three-year bachelor's degrees this fall in high-demand fields such as health care and information technology.

The initiatives are aimed mostly at highly motivated students, such as 2012 Hartwick grad Samantha Hart, who earned 23 college credits while in high school and took heavier course loads while in college. "I saved a lot of money, and I got to do everything that I wanted to," says Hart, 21, who is about to start an internship that she has been told could lead to a job.

Yet for all its pocketbook appeal, the three-year concept hasn't taken off, particularly at public universities. Legislation in Rhode Island in 2009 and Washington last year encourages public universities to develop three-year options, but no programs have been proposed to date, officials in both states say. State budget challenges have pushed a University of California committee's recommendation to a back burner, says system spokesman Steve Montiel.

At Ohio State University, which must phase in three-year degrees beginning this fall, provost Joe Alutto says a three-year degree may be "misdirected for an institution such as ours." He told legislators last year that students who earned college credit in high school tend to add a minor or second major rather than graduate early.

Some skeptics worry about quality. "It's as if they put students on a conveyer belt and just speed them up and spray them with a fire hose and the students catch what they can," Southern New Hampshire University professor Marty Bradley says of models that compress four years into three. He pioneered a three-year degree on his campus in 1997 that required an overhaul of the curriculum.

Some education groups argue that resources, particularly at public institutions, should focus on students who are most at risk of dropping out. A study of 33 states by the non-profit Complete College America found that just 26% of students enrolled at public institutions earn a bachelor's in four years; 54.3% take six years. About 2% of students earning a bachelor's in 2007-08 did so in three years, federal data show. Hartwick's four-year graduation rate in recent years averages about 46%.

"Time is the enemy of college completion, but Getting more of our best students to finish their bachelor's degrees a year early won't be enough" to raise the nation's overall graduation rate, says Complete College America president Stan Jones. "We must ensure that more finish college on time: a four-year degree in four years, not five or six."

Wesleyan President Michael Roth says the three-year option ought to be available to students who want it. "Four years is just a habit," he says. "It isn't some magical number."

source: USA TODAY