The sticker price of a college is not the only thing you should consider when choosing a post-high school experience. Many students pick the college with the lowest tuition or the largest financial aid package. But, this does not factor in all of the costs of going to college.

How Long Does It Take to Graduate?

One of the things many students don’t consider is that some schools have very high 4 year graduation rates. They offer their courses in such a sequence that allows most students to get done with school in 4 years. A few programs even are designed so students can finish in 3 years.

At other schools, it takes longer than that to graduate for the majority of the students. At many of these schools, students have to take time off work or reduce their class load for financial reasons. But, there is also the frequent problem that the students cannot get the classes they need. Sometimes the classes simply aren’t offered in the right sequence. Other times, not enough seats are available to meet the demand.

The reality is that college is expensive. At a time when parents’ stock portfolios are shrinking and the values of their homes are dropping, many students wonder if they will be able to start or continue their college education. Yet, at the same time, we see that a college education is important. A person with a college education makes 75 percent more every year than the person with only a high school diploma.

So, the question is how to fund the college education.

Colleges and universities charge tuition and fees to support their educational mission. Private colleges have to fund their entire budgets from their endowment plus these fees. Public schools get subsidies from the taxpayers which lower the cost of attendance for in state students.

Still, the price of college is rising. It costs 41 percent of an average family’s income to send a student to a private school!

Many people think that scholarships are only given to super-athletes and super-brains. But there are many different types of scholarships and almost everyone who is able to get into college is able to qualify for some kind of scholarship if they only put some effort into it. This article covers the different types of scholarships commonly awarded.

First of all, we have the scholarships for people who have high grades and test scores. The National Merit Scholarship is granted to students who score particularly highly on their PSAT exam during their junior year of high school. Semi-finalists are then invited to submit their grades, letters of recommendation, and essays from teachers to compete for the Finalist designation. Some of these students will win $2500 directly. But, most get their funding because colleges compete to attract students with this designation and often offer full tuition scholarships for these people.

Let’s suppose that you have a child who will be graduating soon from high school. Of course, you will feel happy, just like any proud parent who have their children graduating from high school. It is one of the challenges of life that you have successfully surpassed, despite of the financial instabilities that you have probably experienced. It is time to celebrate, for you have fulfilled your responsibility of giving your child a bright future.

But as many would say, a high school graduation is not the end. In fact, it is just the beginning of tougher challenges that awaits you and your child in the succeeding years-college education.

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