College Tuition Goes....Down

By Kara Croteau, Campus Representative, University of South Carolina

College tuition prices have skyrocketed over the years and with the current economy, many parents and students find themselves struggling to pay for college. Just recently, however, improvements to federal financial aid and tax benefits have cut the tuition price most full-time students are actually paying for college this year to levels lower than they’ve been over most of the last decade.

Here are some key stats from an article in USNews about this trend:

According to College Board, the average published in-state tuition for full-time students at public universities rose by $470 to $7,610 for the fall of 2010. The typical student ended up paying only $1,540 out of pocket. Although that is a $400 increase from 2009, it is still lower than the $2000 that students have been paying for the past ten years. The average private college raised its tuition by $840 to $27,290, but the average private college student actually paid $11,320 in tuition after scholarships and tax benefits were subtracted. Although, this price increased over prices in 2009, tuition remains far below the average net price of the previous ten years, $12,000 to almost $13,500.

It is reassuring to know that the government has done something about the skyrocketing tuition costs by increasing the size of the Pell Grant and as a part of the stimulus, created the $2,500 American Opportunity Tax Credit. However, it have been estimated that about a third of full-time college students do not benefit from any of this and continue to pay full price, out of pocket.

With the amount of money parents, and some students themselves, pay for a college education these days, finding a decent, full time job out of college has become a crucial endeavor.