A new report issued by the College Board is signaling looming trouble for families that are just preparing to send their students to college.
This year, the cost of attending college rose 6 percent, according to the report. At USC, tuition and fees rose 5.35 percent, to $37,693, and total student costs rose by 5 percent from last year.
But the current economic crisis and the rising cost of education could push college costs even higher next year, said Elizabeth Garrett, USC vice president of academic planning and budget.
Students can expect higher tuition rates for next year, as well as higher costs for housing, food and textbooks. While USC does not directly control textbook or food prices, the growing rate of inflation and the faltering economy could result in substantially higher college costs, Garrett said. On average, a student attending a private university will graduate with $23,800 in debt, which is 18 percent higher than it was six years ago, according to College Board.
“I don’t think any of us want to raise tuition more than necessary. A lot of our increased costs are to improve the quality of education,” Garrett said.
But improving quality brings high costs, and many families have had a tough time keeping pace with the tuition increases, said Susan Ikerd, USC’s director of financial aid.
“We’ve already dealt with some families who couldn’t tap into their home equity to help with college assistance,” Ikerd said. “We’re probably going to see families who have less access to borrowing.”
Garrett said she didn’t expect rising tuition to impact the quality or number of applications to USC. Several factors, including inflation and the construction of major on-campus projects such as the Ronald Tutor Campus Center can impact tuition increases, she said. This year’s increase was slightly lower than the 5.7 percent tuition increase in 2007.
Some students said they were worried that given the economic downtown, a tuition increase would only make it more difficult for them to afford USC. Kyla Fenning, a sophomore majoring in cinema-television production, said the rising cost of tuition would make it difficult for her to afford USC and focus on her studies.
“I am already working a part-time job and interning in addition to my full course load. How am I supposed to afford USC now?” she said. “As an undergraduate student, I am told that my primary job is to be a student, to focus on my academics. But with the tuition hike that is impractical. Working, making ends meet, paying for housing and paying an obscene tuition now takes precedence.”
Negar Sarshar, an undeclared sophomore, said USC should be trying to alleviate the financial load for students, not burden them further.
“That’s scary in a time of economic crisis. If anything we should be looking to lower costs in such a time, not adding to financial struggle,” she said.
A bright spot in the College Board report was an increase in financial aid. Financial aid increased by a per-student average of 5.5 percent last year. At USC, about 28 percent of tuition goes toward financial aid, according to a letter USC officials submitted to the Senate Finance Committee earlier this year.
USC claims to have the largest financial aid pool of any private university in the country and meets 100 percent of university-determined financial need for undergraduates. More than 60 percent, or about 9,000 students, received some form of financial aid.
Tuition expected to rise again in 2009
Costs are expected to rise nationwide as colleges cut back, the College Board said.
Published: Sunday, November 9, 2008
Updated: Monday, November 10, 2008
it doesnt matter to me how much it costs cause my parents are gonna pay for it
all i wanna do is go to usc and graduate and be an accountant :)
although sc offered me financial aid with acceptance, but it didn't cover enough to be worth it.
i think one year of usc is about all my 4 years at ucla combined.
i'm attending ucsf medical school.
a more expensive education is necessarily a better one.
heh, heh, public universities all the way for me i guess.