January 25, 2013

The College Cost and Scholarship Game

Jan. 25, 2013 at 10:15 AM | By Ruth Vedvik and Carol Stack | Comment Count

The first weeks of the New Year have seen a plethora of news stories in both the higher ed and popular press about college costs, discounting, and the future of the two. Compounding these issues are stories about whether or not a college education is worth the investment (does anyone really doubt that?) and student loan horror tales. Oh that we could have a crystal ball that would tell us exactly where college costs and scholarships might go – to both better help colleges understand how they can forecast and control revenue in the future, and help families understand what they need to be prepared to pay. Financial Aid Scholarships

This conspires to make the role of the secondary school counselor even more complicated than it has been. Even without a crystal ball, we have the following advice to those of you on the front lines:

Yes there is no doubt that earning a college degree is worth the investment – in time and money. Note the key phrase – earning a college degree – as contrasted to those who drop out, spend horrendous sums on random courses from for-profit providers or make other higher education-related bad decisions.
Discounting in the form of merit scholarships and other gift assistance isn’t going away any time soon. For many middle class students, these scholarships actually meet a portion – or all of their financial need. For other students, discounting in the form of athletic scholarships, and scholarships designed to recognize other talents, hasn’t even been a part of the discussion.
College prices aren’t going to plummet overnight. For the same reasons that excellent teaching and learning at the pre-K–12 level is expensive – it’s expensive to do so at the post-secondary level. Families need to be reminded that saving for and investing in a college, or other post-secondary education, for their children is as important as saving for retirement and far more important than buying a new car or taking an exotic vacation.
Tools exist to help families forecast and prepare for the cost of college. Individual college’s net price calculators (the more questions asked, the more likely the accuracy of the results) can be found on every college website. Yes, using these calculators takes time and effort but college is a large investment worth time in research and analysis.

The debate about college costs and the best way to finance that cost will undoubtedly continue. At the moment – it is simply a debate with no resolution in sight.