Medford High School student, Michael Maloney, Amanpreet Singh, Ashley Martignetti
Do you need help figuring out how to pay for college?Want to know about the most and least expensive colleges in Massachusetts? Click on the “more” link below and read on.
Listen to the full show:
Plus: the top 10 most expensive schools in Massachusetts, the 10 cheapest, how costs have been rising, resources for students and parents, and thoughts from financial advisors and a dean of admissions.
| Top Ten Most Expensive Schools in Massachusetts (2007-08)* | |
|---|---|
| School | Tuition & Fees ($) |
| Tufts University | 36,700 |
| Wheaton College | 36,690 |
| Hampshire College | 36,644 |
| Simon’s Rock College of Bard | 36,550 |
| Amherst College | 36,232 |
| Mount Holyoke College | 35,940 |
| Brandeis University | 35,702 |
| Boston College | 35,674 |
| Williams College | 35,670 |
| Boston University | 35,418 |
*Source:Â The Chronicle of Higher Education
| Top Ten Least Expensive Schools in Massachusetts (2007-08)* | |
|---|---|
| School | Tuition & Fees ($) |
| Bunker Hill Community College | 3,180 |
| Massasoit Community College | 3,330 |
| Northern Essex Community College | 3,420 |
| Holyoke Community College | 3,428 |
| Springfield Tech Community College | 3,576 |
| North Shore Community College | 3,630 |
| Massachusetts Bay Community College | 3,650 |
| Roxbury Community College | 3,660 |
| Bristol Community College | 3,750 |
| Berkshire Community College | 3,826 |
*Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
Please note that this graph only reflects tuition increases and does not take into account increased costs in room/board and fees.
Click image to enlarge
Resources for students trying to navigate the complicated waters of financial aid…
1. MEFA (Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority) College Cost Estimator:Â This calculator estimates the cost for your child to attend college now or in the future, based on historical trends. It also shows what costs remain after you subtract your financial aid package and savings.
2. Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project: Consumer Law Center’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project is a resource for borrowers, their families, and advocates representing student loan borrowers. This site is for people who already have student loans and want to know more about their options and rights.
3. Student Loan Frequently Asked Questions: Answers to all of your questions having to do with understanding student loans, default and delinquency, bankruptcy, where to go for help, loan cancellation, and repayment.
4. Info, advice, and tools from FinAid: FinAid is a comprehensive source of student financial aid information, advice and tools. Founder Mark Kantrowitz says:
- Minimize debt: One advisor says try not to borrow more than your expected starting salary
- Borrow from the federal government first: Because the loans are cheaper and have better terms
- Apply for a private loan with a person with good credit: This will increase your chances of getting a loan and will lower the rate
- If you have a variable rate loan: Wait until July 1st to consolidate them because the interest rates are projected to drop
- Try to pay at least the interest on your loan while you’re still in college: Because it will mean lower fees or lower interest rate on the loan
More Financial Planning Advice…
The Financial Planning Association of Massachusetts recently held a meeting in Westboro to talk about how to advise clients to plan for college in uncertain economic times. The Association invited Larry Dannenberg, of College Solutions in Framingham, to talk about advising parents and students. Here are some of Larry’s comments to the financial planners:
Investing in the Future
You saw in the chart above that Wheaton College has one of the highest tuitions in Massachusetts. Gail Berson, Dean of Admissions and Student Aid at Wheaton, says that when considering costs, prospective students have to factor in federal loans, institutional grants, work-study programs, and private loans. The combination makes overall costs more managable, Berson says. Most important, she believes, is the value of the education at a school like Wheaton, and the investment it makes in students’ futures:
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Austin sent Radio Boston this email:
I graduated May of ‘07 from a private college in western NY.
During my four years tuition was raised by 5% every year. Yet our education programs didn’t get any more funding. The college said that they put all our money into newer better campuses to attract more students. Why are we paying more for our “education” when the money isn’t going towards classes?
Christine sent this email:
What is the reason that college should be entered right after high and be completed in 4 years?
When my daughter first went into college, she was at a private college that at that time, was $30,000 per year. She withdrew before she finished her freshman year. She is now 24 years old and has made the decision to go back. She will be a full time student this fall. because she is 24 the advantage is that her father’s and my income is
not considered when she applies for financial aid. As a result she has qualified for much more money. This allows her father and myself to help out more. In a perfect world everyone goes to school right after high school,
but we don’t have a perfect world and maybe we should think outside the box. Who says an 18 year is ready to make a life decision about what they want to do? Also, an older student tends to be more committed and serious.
Alex sent this email about the middle-class and the cost of college:
The discussion misses a huge problem: middle-class families
in high-cost Massachusetts whose EFC is greater than $50K year but whose kids aren’t able to gain admission to Harvard or Stanford, which have begun using their wealth to reduce costs of middle-class families.
It’s still true that the truly brilliant and the most needy can afford college, but what about the effect of bankrupting middle-class families who are expected to fund $200K educations without subsidized loans or assistance?
Lisa is the parent of a college student. She sent this email:
I have a freshman at UMass Amherst. My concern is many students often use UMass as their fallback school if they are not accepted to their first choice. Now they may be choosing more for the price than for the fact they were not accepted in other places.Â
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I assume UMass and other colleges accept students with a mind to the fact that only a certain percentage will actually go there. I’m guessing that this fall’s freshman class will be much larger than usual? Have State colleges taken this into account? Or will the campus be ‘bursting’ with freshmen this fall?
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Ram from Cambridge sent this suggestion:
If students want to save tens of thousands of dollars, why not work hard to take lots of AP courses along with a few community college courses while in high school, and then place as a sophomore or junior in your first year of state college?
An email from Michael:
I took 2 years off between high school and college. I moved
into the city, worked at low-paying jobs, supported myself, and sowed my wild oats.
That is probably the only reason why I did so well in college. It made an incredible difference in maturity and motivation. I was always serious about my studies, missed only 1 class in 3 years, and did very little partying.
The #1 factor was that I was in college, because I wanted to learn, not because my parents told me to go.
The last time I tried get a carpenter for work on my house,
it took almost a year. If I had a son, I’d advise him to go to trade school rather than go into debt for 10 years to get a job that probably doesn’t pay as much as a skilled craftsman.
Remember, these days even white collar jobs are being outsourced.
In my father’s generation, high school graduates were hired to do a lot of the jobs that today require a college degree. And they did them just as well.
And we seem to think today that college is for everyone. When 2/3 of Americans are going to college, there are college students with below average intelligence.
Of course,
a) When I went to UMass, it was dirt cheap, even accounting for inflation.
b) I was in that minority who went to college to learn, not to get a career, though I did wind up getting a career.
c) Yes, I do have a degree and a key.
Joshua sent this email:
College costs have been rising faster than inflation over
the last 2+ decades, coinciding with the decline in long-term interest rates that have made mortgages and home equity loans cheaper. Until recently, home equity loans have been relatively easy to get because of increasing house prices.
If many people finance their children’s education with easy-to-get home equity loans, and if they are sensitive only to monthly payment levels, have historically low mortgage rates effectively made people more tolerant of high tuition costs? Now that home loans are harder to get, will colleges have to slow tuition increases?
Alternatively, will colleges use “price discrimination”, whereby they increase the “sticker price” but offer discounts to people less able to pay (a strategy analogous to the airlines charging business travelers more than others on the same flight). Harvard has moved in
that direction with their lowering of tuition for families making less than $180K/yr.
An email from Rose about a tough decision:
We had to make an agonizing decision last week. Although our
very smart, talented, hard-working senior HS daughter was accepted to NYU, her “dream” school, she has decided to enroll at UMASS-Amherst for next fall. Statistically we rank as an upper-income family (annual gross income well above $200K)we could not justify the $52,000 price
tag for NYU compared with the $15,000 +/- price (adjusting for the free tuition MCAS bonus)for UMASS.
While the decision was very difficult, I believe UMASS offers her many excellent opportunities and we will be able to give her an undergraduate degree without taking on debt and adding stress to the family finances.