Tuition Time Machine

By Kurt Goerke

Have you ever had the nightmare, or even worse a real life experience, where you’ve waited until the last minute to start studying for a difficult exam? There is that terrible moment when you realize that you can cram all you want, but it is just too late to make up for the time and effort that you should have put in! It was probably a moment like this that inspired the first person to think of the concept of the time machine. “If only I could turn the clock back a week, then I would get to work and be prepared on test day.

”Think of this article as your time machine. You’re fast-forwarding into the future, anywhere from one to 18 years. Your child is graduating high school and is ready to take the next step up the ladder of higher education. The real question is: Are you prepared?

College tuition rates have risen by six percent each year over the past years, and you are looking at fairly staggering tuition and living costs for them to earn the college degree of their choice. You lack the resources to help with the daunting task of paying for their education. Still, you know that a college degree is a great long-term investment in their future, and that the average college grad earns an estimated million dollars more on average during their working years than a person with only a high school diploma. But the cold hard fact remains that you haven’t done the necessary planning and saving in order to afford them this opportunity. You have failed them, and it’s too late now to change that fact.

“Quick, jump in the time machine!”

Like Scrooge after the spirits returned him to the present day, you have only seen shadows of what might be, not what will be. There is still time for you to do your homework and be prepared on that day. It is also not a given that the current projections of college cost increasing by six percent each year will come to pass. However, it has been the case over the past few decades. In 1977, the cost of tuition, fees and room and board at public universities was about $1,800 for in-state residents and $2,700 for non-residents. It cost an average of $4,000 at a private school. Compare that to the 2006 yearly cost of about $11,000 for public universities or $30,000 for private schools. If you have a 10-year-old, the yearly cost of public college is projected to go up from $11,000 per year to almost $17,000 in the next eight short years. Remember, this is just tuition, room and board and fees. These figures do not include travel or the “Legends of Rap” concert tickets they’ll need!

There is good news in all of this! There are more ways than ever to save for your child’s education. Prepaid college plans and other investment tools like 529 college savings plans have added options to the traditional savings account. There are also more scholarship, loan and grant opportunities than ever before. The end result is still financially worthwhile, as a person with a college degree will earn over 80 percent more on average than someone with only a high school diploma.

Austin Holland is a high school senior this year who is going through the process of selecting a Florida college to attend. He is fortunate that his grades have made him eligible for a Bright Futures Scholarship that will pay 75 percent of his tuition cost. His parents, Robert and Lisa, are as prepared as any parents ever are to let their first child fly from the nest. They won’t need the time machine because they have made several wise decisions that include taking advantage of the Florida prepaid tuition plan and advice from an educational consultant to help their son prepare for college, before he even entered high school. They were advised on what courses would prepare him for college–courses that helped pave the way for the Bright Futures Scholarship that he’ll receive at graduation.

Like many parents, however, they will only be breathing a small sigh of relief when Austin graduates college. That is because they’ll still have his two younger sisters’ college educations to contend with at that point. They are already saving for them as well, because they know the tougher the test, the sooner you’d better start preparing!

Projected Tuition Costs