Expert advice to save money on college costs
Education Data Initiative: Average cost of private, non-profit college is $55,840 per year
(InvestigateTV) — With the Education Data Initiative reporting that the average cost of annual attendance at a public university is $27,146, many parents and students are looking for ways to reduce their expenses.
Robert Farrington with The College Investor shared some advice on how to decrease the cost of college.
He said if parents are early in the process and just trying to get their bearings on how much college will cost their family, they can look up what’s called the net price calculator for the college their child wants to attend. It’s usually on the college’s financial aid page.
“You can go on that web page and enter some basic information about yourself and your family, and they will tell you what you can expect to pay at that college,” Farrington said. “And that is a great starting point for families. It gives them a sense of what they’re going to owe out of pocket when it comes time to actually pay.”
Farrington said those already on track to go to college this fall and who have received that first bill know what they have to pay, but there’s still time to try to offset that cost.
“Look for scholarships,” he advised. “It sounds last minute, but there are still summer scholarships available and there’s various scholarship search sites like Scholly and Scholarship360.”
Farrington said another option is to look at doing something very different and maybe deferring four-year college for a year and starting at community college.
He said this can be a great way to knock out some undergraduate credits, like English 101, and not pay the high sticker price charged at a four-year college. After earning basic credits, transfer them to the school of choice.
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