College-bound students run into financial wall

[Liberal_in_LA]

College-bound students run into financial wall

More families request aid, but universities and the government tighten up, jeopardizing enrollment of some students at schools where the cost of a four-year education can reach $200,000.

By Gale Holland
May 1, 2009

Krystal Rodriguez and her mother both cried with joy in April when she received her college acceptance letter from USC.

"I was shaking and I felt like throwing up, but in a good way," Krystal Rodriguez recalled.

But her parents said they were shocked during a subsequent campus visit to discover that neither the government nor the university would be offering substantial help with the $53,000 annual cost of attendance.

Although they were very proud of their daughter, the Cerritos couple told her that they didn't think they could swing the $200,000 tab for four years at the private university.

The Rodriguez family's discussion echoed a number of painful conversations this spring as recession-battered parents delivered some variation of the same message: Congratulations, you got in, but we can't afford it.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-financialaid1-2009may01,0,2573251.story

[girl gone mad]

1. Sorry, but no bachelor's degree is worth 200K.

Tuition seriously needs to come down.

[Jeep789]

2. So true. You can get a great education just reading .

And the fact that Bush graduated from both Yale and Harvard should put an end to the Ivy league education superiority myth. Dubya couldn't have graduated from most junior colleges.

[bluestateguy]

3. You are probably right

But employers want an actual college degree when they fill those entry level jobs.

[Jeep789]

5. We were speaking education not perception of one

Of course, I'm sure the old boys club have always known that they couldn't compete without the perception.

[pnwmom]

4. Unfortunately, it can often come to half of that -- still a lot of money --

at a state university. Room and board whether in a dorm or apartment (if you're too far away to live at home) can be a major expense. And here in Washington, it takes the average student 5 years to schedule the courses required for graduation, which adds a 5th year to the total cost.