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The latest results from Sallie Mae’s National Study of College Students and Parents finds that parents and children together are footing 40 percent of the total college bill. Another 27 percent of the bill is paid with loans. And 29 percent is paid with grants and scholarships. In fact, 45 percent of families said they’d gotten some kind of scholarship to pay for school. A small percentage of people even said friends are chipping in.
In other words, people across the U.S. are using all of the resources at their disposal to pay the high cost of a higher education. And dang! That cost is pretty steep. Families spent $20,902 on average during the 2011-2012 school year.
Families are taking a variety of steps to cut costs, like keeping students home to lower the price of housing. But there are other things you can do to keep the college tab as low as possible.
