These 5 Strategies Can Reduce College Costs

College debt is a hot topic, and for good reason. As of 2023, more than half of all students left college in debt. For New Jersey students, the average debt was $35,202. These students joined the ranks of 44 million borrowers who collectively owe $1.75 trillion in education debt, according to statistics by Forbes. A few strategies can help students avoid drowning in college debt:  

1) Students should consider the cost of attending academically comparable colleges.  While The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), Villanova, Drexel, and St. Joseph’s are all highly regarded schools in relatively close geographic proximity to each other, the cost of attending each may vary dramatically. New Jersey students get “in-state” tuition at TCNJ, which is currently $17,980. Tuition (not including room and board) is $64,906 at Villanova, $60,663 at Drexel, and $51,340 at St. Joseph’s. Of course, students may receive “merit scholarships” that vary greatly.  

2) Students should avoid starting college “undecided” because, once they have chosen a major, they may find that many of their previous courses do not fulfill requirements of their field. Thus, they need to take additional courses, often delaying graduation and adding to their college cost. Also, undecided students miss out on the opportunity to apply for scholarships offered to students in particular fields. For example, hundreds of scholarships are available to students seeking an education in STEM fields. 

3) Students should seek part-time jobs with companies that offer tuition reimbursement. Chipotle and McDonald’s offer up to $5,250 a year to eligible part-time workers. Starbucks will cover the full tuition for employees enrolled in Arizona State University’s online program. Other companies that offer some type of tuition reimbursement include Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, Papa John’s, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, UPS, and Walmart.

College Admissions Advantage by Early Decision

When students apply to colleges, early in their senior year of high school, they can benefit greatly by filing their applications prior to November 1^st.  That’s the typical cutoff to meet “early action” and “early decision” deadlines.  Students can apply “early action” to as many colleges as they like. The benefits are that they will hear back sooner than their peers who file regular applications while they are under no obligation to enroll. Often, the acceptance rate is higher for early action applicants. 

But the real advantage comes to students who apply “early decision” to any of a host of competitive colleges and universities. Early decision is binding, meaning students are expected to enroll if accepted, unless their financial need is not met. So, students should only choose this option when they are competitive applicants, certain of their first-choice college, and not too concerned about finances.  Many colleges strongly favor early decision candidates because it boosts their school’s “yield” – the percent of accepted students who enroll.

The End of an Era: No More Sharpened #2 Pencils

                       

The end of an era was marked by the December 2^nd SAT when students arrived, for the last time, with sharpened #2 pencils. For nearly 100 years, since June 23^rd, 1926, college bound students engaged in the time-honored ritual of taking the lengthy, paper and pencil exam that would impact their college prospects. 

While the SAT still exists, and is just as important as ever in gaining admission to many competitive colleges, it’s now a digital exam. The PSAT and SAT exams have embraced technology and are now adaptive, computer-based tests.  Students start out by working on a Reading/Writing module consisting of 27 short passages (typically one paragraph long), each followed by one question.  The questions test a student’s abilities in reading comprehension and grammar/punctuation skills.  Based on a student’s success on the first module, the second module consists of either easier or more difficult questions, which will ultimately impact one’s score.

After a short break, students then move onto their first Math module, covering a range of topics with the most difficult being in the area of Algebra II/Trigonometry.  There is no pre-calculus or calculus covered on the SAT, so students should not wait until they are in advanced Math classes to start taking the exam.  Here too, based on a student’s success on the first module, the second module consists of either easier or more difficult questions. Students are provided with an online calculator as well as a countdown clock, letting them know, as they progress through the test, exactly how much time they have left.  Students are allowed to bring their own calculator to use in place of the online one, and they are provided with scrap paper.

Top 4 Student Factors in College Search Process

There are a multitude of factors that influence students’ decisions as to where to spend their college years. In a survey, earlier this year, of undergraduate and graduate students, BestColleges.com found the top four factors to be affordability, student outcomes, flexibility and accessibility to specific programs, and college rankings/reputation.

Students are wise to focus on affordability, as more than half of graduating students this past year left college in debt; the average debt for New Jerseys students was $35,202. Cost conscious students often favor in-state public colleges and universities, such as The College of New Jersey and Rutgers, where annual tuition is currently less that $18,000 before any need-based aid. While most students seek to live on or off campus during their college years, those who choose to commute from home can avoid the additional expense of room and board which at times can even exceed the cost of tuition.

College Board’s New College Search Guide Features

A college investment is one of the largest expenses that most families will face in their lifetime.  So, the key is to do some serious homework to identify best-fit colleges where students can prepare for the careers of their dreams at a college that meets their academic and social preferences.  

College Board’s BigFuture website offers a free college search feature that is an ideal place for families to start their research. There they will find a college search database with information on more than 2,400 four-year colleges in the U.S.  As students select the specific criteria that are important to them, such as school size, location, availability of on-campus housing, choice of major, etc., the list of appropriate colleges starts to shrink.  

 

For example, if a student clicks on “location” and chooses New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania as options, the list shrinks to 191 potential colleges.  If the student then clicks “majors” and indicates that he/she is seeking Business and Management, the list reduces to 153 good-fit colleges.  If the student then identifies a preference for an urban setting, the list further narrows to 31 colleges.  Without leaving their computer, students can vastly narrow down the list of colleges worthy of further investigation.

The Actual College Graduation Rate Statistics

“What is your four-year graduation rate?” This may be one of the most important questions that college-bound students and their parents can ask when considering a potential college.  An article in Money stated, “the failure to graduate students in four years has become so commonplace that schools are now showing you their six-year graduation rate.” Unfortunately, that fact often is not very evident.

The “Best Colleges” Guide by U.S. News & World Report, considered a top resource of college information, lists the graduation rate as one of its key criteria in ranking hundreds of colleges and universities.  Readers may assume it indicates a four-year graduation rate, but it’s actually a six-year graduation rate.

A government website that provides a gamut of extremely helpful information to college-bound students and their parents is collegescorecard.ed.gov. One key category, addressing the graduation rate at U.S. colleges and universities, states, “The graduation rate for degree granting schools is the proportion of entering students that graduated at this school within 8 years of entry…”   Students and parents who are budgeting for a college diploma need to know, in advance, whether to multiply the annual cost of attendance (including tuition, fees, room, board, and books) by four or six or even eight!

Free College Planning Search Tool

Ten years ago, the government created “College Scorecard” to be used as a type of Consumer Reports for colleges. Ever since then, data has been collected on colleges throughout the U.S. regarding the costs of attending, the graduation rates, and the actual salaries that alumni were earning, based on specific degrees, four years after graduation.  Numbers don’t lie, so students and parents can now enter the college process wide-eyed, able to compare the cost of earning a particular degree at a specific college with the salary that its alumni are earning early in their career.

The website featuring this information is collegescorecard.ed.gov  

 

By typing in Rutgers, for example, then choosing the New Brunswick campus and bachelor’s degree, data appears showing that the graduation rate (within 8 years of entering the school) is 83% with an average annual cost of $15,000 after accounting for financial aid and scholarships.  By clicking Rutgers University – New Brunswick, and expanding “Fields of Study,” one can access the median earnings of alumni sorted by major four years after graduation.  By choosing Rutgers graduates with a degree in Computer and Information Sciences, for example, you will find median earnings of $114,399 four years after earning their bachelor’s degree, while those with a degree in Psychology were earning a median salary of $49,641.