To put that in perspective, the College Board reports that the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2017–18 school year was:

• $34,740 at private colleges
• $9,970 for state residents at public colleges
• $25,620 for out-of-state residents attending public universities
• And the average cost of attendance for Loyola Academy’s top 15 feeder schools is $57,408. (Roughly 50% of the Class of 2017 attended one of these 15 schools.)

 

So, the question becomes, how will your family pay for college? And, are those expectations aligned among your family members?

 

According to a recent survey published by Junior Achievement, four in ten teens who plan to attend college say they expect scholarships and grants to cover most of their costs and only one in ten anticipate taking out student loans. By contrast, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, more than half of all college students end up taking out student loans. In a similar disconnect, 48 percent of teens told Junior Achievement that they expected their parents would help pay for college. Only 16 percent of parents said they planned to pay.

 

This is why it is so important to talk about finances as early as possible in the college search and application process. Families who defer or never have this conversation set their students up for heartache as they may apply (and get accepted to) schools that they simply cannot afford to attend.

 

“We cannot encourage parents and guardians strongly enough to have an honest conversation with their students about college finances well before they begin applying to schools…even freshman year,” says Mrs. Traci Flowers, college counselor at Loyola Academy. “A shared understanding of the financial resources available allows families to look at college options that are not only an academic, social, geographic and cultural fit—but also a good and realistic financial fit. There are great colleges out there for every price point.”

 

Questions to help guide that conversation include:

• How much are mom and dad able to pay for college?
• How much, if anything, is your student prepared to pay themselves?
• How can they be saving money for college now?
• Where can they find scholarships and how do they apply?
• What are student loans, how do they work and should they even get them?
• If a student graduates with college debt, how will that impact their lifestyle after college?
• If parents carry college debt into retirement, how will that impact their lifestyle?

 

While these topics are not easy to address, sharing a common understanding of them will make for a far better outcome for parents and students, alike.

 

You can read more about on how to talk about college finances with your student here.