Caught in the Crunch: Is the high cost of college putting the crunch on our future?

Crunchlogo

 

Guidance counselors used to advise college-bound students to always apply to at least one school they knew they could get into. In today’s economy, that “safety school” has become the one students and their parents know they can afford.

“We always recommend one or two financial safety schools,” Mark Tanguay, guidance chairman at Plymouth North High School, said. “Some students can get accepted to schools but just can’t pay for them.”

The cost of a year in college now ranges from $13,000 to $20,000 for state colleges and universities and from $38,000 to more than $50,000 for private institutions.

Danny bonaduce

This year’s credit crunch hit the families of college students earlier than most. Months before Wall Street imploded, financial agencies that many students rely on for their college loans withdrew their funding. Some families were forced to scramble for new loans as the start of classes loomed in September. But as Election Day approached, college students, at least, seemed to become acceptable financial risks for lenders once again.

The question now is whether those students are willing to make the same bet.

Students applying to colleges this year will not learn what kind of financial packages are available to them until the spring. It’s still anyone’s guess. But history suggests families never get as much financial aid as they think they deserve, Tanguay said. And with the availability of local scholarships for high school seniors, the first year of college in often the most affordable.

Tanguay said students are taking longer looks at the costs. And some, especially those already planning on going to graduate school, are opting so save their money for their master’s degree.

This year’s crunch ranks as one of the worst Tanquay’s seen in nearly two decades as a guidance counselor, but the decisions facing this year’s families are not necessarily new.

“Many families have had to do this from Day 1 because Plymouth is a working-class town and in many cases this had been a tough decision a lot of kids have made over the years,” Tanguay said.

this year there are just more of them.

But unlike the good old days when college was optional, today it’s essentially a requirement for young people who want to succeed and excel as adults. But these days, the cost of college seems out of bounds even for some of the best and brightest students, and with the current state of the economy paying for it is becoming increasingly difficult.

Robin Williams is the mother of a Silver Lake High School student. Her daughter, Lauren, wanted to attend a college in California after graduation, but now that option may not be on the table.

 “I think when we start to look at colleges and look at prices, the economy is definitely going to affect her decisions,” Robin said.

She’s not alone. More than ever, families will be looking for that extra help with financing and Williams suspects that will affect the amount of money available. At a recent meeting for parents, held at Silver Lake High School, Robin said the focus was on college information in order to help parents get a head start. Lauren also attended a college fair at Whitman-Hanson High School, “just to get a feel for what’s out there,” Robin said. “Now she’s looking to stay local. She’s decided she wants to, hopefully, be home on weekends.”

“Once we find somewhere that has a program she wants, and after being accepted, we will apply for every scholarship we can and just go from there,” she said. “She is no longer considering California. It would have been great, but she realizes that is not going to be realistic. If she went far away she might have to spend holidays at school and might not be able to come home for other events. Flights are expensive now and the money for them would have to come from me.”

Lauren’s family has already narrowed her search to places like Bridgewater State College, Massasoit or perhaps a college in New Hampshire or Maine. “Some place close enough so she could come home easily,” Robin added.

And the Williamses are not alone. Robin said the parents of Lauren’s friends are also changing direction, aligning their children’s educations and futures with the state of the economy.

“Some of her friends have already been told they have to stay local,” Robin said.

When Plymout …

Related posts: Nazi bell, Anand jon alexander, Scarlet pimpernel, Generation gap, Barackobama.com plan