You may have heard that there is a rising cost of college in the United States.
It has been a major topic of conversation at recent national and state conventions and has been the subject of media reports and academic research.
And while some of that has been accurate, the truth is that we are paying way more than ever for our education.
The average cost of a bachelor’s degree in the U.S. is now $35,000, according to a recent report from the Institute for College Access and Success (ICAAS), a nonprofit research group that tracks student debt.
A similar report from Tufts University found that the average annual cost of attending a four-year public university is now about $28,000.
And while a lot of those costs can be paid for out of pocket, many students are also saddled with a lot more debt, particularly after graduating from high school.
We all know the costs of college are skyrocketing, and the higher education system is in crisis.
But what is the truth?
What are the hidden costs of higher education that are increasing exponentially?
We have spent years trying to figure out what the truth really is.
In the process, we have been able to uncover some of the hidden cost of higher learning that is costing Americans their jobs, their ability to make ends meet, and their health.
Let’s take a look at what we know.
1.
College graduates are paying more than they used to for college.
College graduates now pay more than their counterparts from other professions, according the Institute of College Access & Success (ICAS), which has been tracking students at all levels of education.
The average undergraduate student in the private, public, and research universities of the U!
S.
now has a $37,000-a-year debt, and nearly 20% of all bachelor’s degrees paid for by American students are now paid for with federal grants.
It is estimated that the total outstanding student loan debt for a public four- year public university was $1.5 trillion in 2015.
In contrast, for public four year private, research, and nonprofit universities, the average debt was $27,000 in 2015, according ICAAS.
So what does this mean for those of us in our 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, or 60s who might have thought we were going to get our degrees at a decent cost?
It means we are not getting them at all.
At most, students are paying $17,000 to $19,000 for a four year public four years.
In comparison, the federal government paid $8,500 for a bachelor degree in 2014, according ICAS.
That was for a program that required students to work and earn a minimum of $20,000 per year.
2.
College students are getting screwed out of the process.
While college graduates were getting their degrees at cost, their peers were getting screwed by the process as well.
When you enter college, you get a job, but you don’t get paid for that job.
And that is because you are not in the workforce, according TOEFL.
To be able to work part-time and still be able buy a home, you have to work full-time.
If you are a full- time student, that means you have an average of $17 to $18,000 a year in student loan payments that go to repay your student loans, according ToEFL calculations.
This means that most students entering college are getting paid less than they would have paid for college in general, according TFA’s CEO, Jim O’Neill.
If you are in the process of earning a degree, and your degree is not a high-paying one, you are paying less in student loans than you would if you were just starting out.
3.
You are getting a higher education in a time of economic downturn.
What are the financial consequences of higher tuition?
Many students will be able only to borrow money to pay for a semester of college.
That means the financial burden on the student is going to be much higher than it would be in the current economy.
But what happens if you are able to make the loan payments and still don’t have enough money for your degree?
You could be on the hook for more than $1,500 in student debt, according O’Sullivan.
Even with that, if you make enough money to live on, you will still have a much higher financial burden than if you have never attended college.
The student loan interest rate is currently at a record low, and this means many students who have taken out loans to pay tuition are already paying more.
That is going up the debt-to-income ratio for those students.
4.
Higher tuition will impact your family.
As you can see from the table above, the more you
