All Articles Tagged "college cost"
This is How Much It Costs to Educate the President of the US
President Obama receiving an honorary degree from Miami Dade County College. Rex Features via AP Images
No surprise here, but college is expensive. The College Board just reported that the average price for tuition, room and board, etc with tax deductions is $12,110 for a public school and $23,840 for a private, nonprofit school. (This was just released about for-profit colleges. LOL.) This year’s increase, according to The New York Times, is smaller than that of years past at three percent. Still, the high cost and tight job market has got a number of media outlets asking if the education is worth the expense. Well one day you or your kid could be President of the US and then all of that education will seem like a great investment.
The folks at Degree Jungle, a site that provides info about online college programs, have pulled together a fun and rather interesting infographic that illustrates just how much it costs to educate a US President (or presidential candidate). Think somewhere around $450K. Wow. Info below.
By Degreejungle.com The Cost to Educate a President
Technology Needs Driving Up the Cost of College
Image: Digital Vision
Used to be that school supplies mostly consisted of pencils, paper and a new backpack. Nowadays, college students also have to make an investment in new tech supplies if they’re going to make the grade.
Schools still provide students with access to a computer lab, but for many, a laptop has long been a college necessity. College computer labs are accessible, but most useful for printing documents or a quick email check. The latest MacBook Pro will put you out about $2,000 (whew!), but there are perfectly good alternatives in the $500 to $700 range all over the Internet.
Also on the must-have list are mobile phones. Not the “free with your contract” deal, but the latest smartphones, which can cost a couple hundred bucks even with a commitment. Add the monthly cost of service, and there’s a real expense.
This infographic produced by OnlineColleges shows that students aren’t just using their phones to call home and text their friends. They’re accessing social networks, and using them for school- and work-related tasks. At this point, a student who doesn’t have access to social networks — whether via a broadband connection or mobile device — is at a severe disadvantage. The ability to access information on the go has upped that ante.
The latest digital option for many students are e-books. There can be some savings on books purchased electronically. For instance, I once bought a book of classic short stories for 99 cents on Kindle. But USA Today points out that, in some cases, the savings is small. In other cases, the need to ultimately print out the book, in part or in its entirety, can drive up the cost. And at some schools, e-books are required.
Then there’s the cost of purchasing the device on which to read these books. Amazon’s Kindle starts at $79 and goes up to $199 for the Fire tablet. Barnes & Noble just knocked $20 off the price of the Nook, but it too approaches $200. And then there’s the iPad, which promises a brand new learning experience, but starts at $399. Apple offers education pricing, which includes a $50 gift card for apps if you’re purchasing the device for school.
Speaking of apps, USA Today also has a list of apps especially for students, many of which are free.
Add to these tech expenditures the increased cost of tuition. In many states, the cost for in-resident tuition at state schools is going up. In some cases dramatically. Here are some ways we recently suggested to help pay for college.
Students in Georgia Lose HOPE
If the Georgia education system had one thing to tout, it was their HOPE scholarship program. Under the program, which has served more than a million students, high-schoolers with good grades were awarded a free college education. Now, due to soaring college costs, the scholarship will only be offered to students with a 3.7 GPA instead of 3.0, and students will have to score at least a 1200 on the SAT. Those who don’t quite make the cut will get some tuition help, an amount that could change from year to year, reports The Huffington Post.
Many high school seniors have already decided what school they will be attending in the fall, but news like this could drastically change things. Students counting on the HOPE scholarship but don’t meet the new qualifications will now have to scramble for aid money late in the process.
Read more: HOPE Scholarship Cuts: Georgia’s Trendsetting Program on The Chopping Block
Classroom Competition
(Forbes) – College–or, more accurately, post-secondary education–is big business. It can take many forms, including trade schools. All told, a trillion U.S. dollars a year could be at stake. This is an “industry” in which the U.S. has enjoyed preeminence for decades. Its university brands have global appeal. We are running the rankings from an annual FORBES survey. We include in that package a description of the ends to which some Asian families will go to gain elite admissions–and on the Web at forbes.com/colleges you’ll read a reconsideration of whether the even higher costs after you get in are worth it.
