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INSIDER 5
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Those Were
The Day8
No wonder the ’50s were care-
i free. According to statistics
compiled by the University
of Oklahoma’s The Oklaho-
j ma Daily, in 1959:
•A three-room furnished
apartment rented for $60 per
month.
• Sirloin steak sold for 89
| cents a pound.
• A Renault automobile cost
$1,784.
And to top it off, tuition and
room and board at a four-
I year private college cost an
average of $1,437 a year.
Top Billing: 10
Of the Country’s
Costliest Colleges
College costs rose an average
of 9 percent this year. Below
are charges for tuition, fees,
and room and board at 10 of
the costliest colleges in the
country. According to the
College Board, a typical stu
dent spends an additional
$230 on books and supplies,
$250 to $450 on transporta
tion, and $500 on personal
expenses.
BENNINGTON COLLEGE
Bennington, Vermont
$8,420
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Cambridge, Massachusetts
$8,140
YALE UNIVERSITY
New Haven, Connecticut
$8,140
SARAH LAWRENCE
COLLEGE
Bronxville, New York
$8,000
MASSACHUSETTS
INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
Cambridge, Massachusetts
$7,985
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Stanford, California
$7,949
PRINCETON
UNIVERSITY
Princeton, New Jersey
$7,850
BROWN UNIVERSITY
Providence, Rhode Island
$7,825
TUFTS UNIVERSITY
Medford, Massachusetts
$7,773
BARD COLLEGE
Annandale-on-Hudson,
New York
$7,746
COLLEGE COSTS: Soaring Out of Sight
Average tuition and room and
board charges at public and
private universities have
more than doubled
over the last 20 years.
By 1990, they will
have doubled
again.
$20,000
$18,000
$16,000
$14,000
$12,000
$10,000
$8,000
$6,000
$4,000
$2,000
1965-66 70-71 75-76 79-80 85-86 90-91 95-96
(SOURCE NAT L CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS/
FUTURE PROJECTIONS FROM OAKLAND FINANCIAL GROUP)
What Should You
Expect To Pay for College?
Even if you feel you may not
be eligible for help in paying
for college, you could benefit
by evaluating your financial
situation to make sure you
have the resources you need.
First, figure your annual
college expenses. Aside from
the obvious costs of tuition,
room and board, and required
fees, you should add in esti
mates of the money you’ll
spend on books, transporta
tion, and personal expenses.
Next, determine how much
your family can afford to
contribute. This will depend
on your parents’ income and
assets (things like real estate,
savings, and stocks and
bonds) and on the number of
children they have to sup
port. According to the Col
lege Scholarship Service,
which administers a stand
ard need-analysis test to ap
plicants for financial aid, a
family of four with an in
come of $16,000 and one child
in college is expected to con
tribute from $810 to $1,650
per year toward the student’s
educational costs (depending
on total family assets). If the
same family has two chil
dren in college, its expected
contribution for each child
drops by 40 percent.
But don’t think that a high
family income automatically
disqualifies you for any help.
Even a family whose yearly
income is $30,000 or more
may be considered “needy”
—if there are unusually large
medical bills, alimony pay
ments, or other out-of-the-
ordinary expenses. After de
ciding on your parents’ con
tribution, calculate what
you’ll be able to pay. The
College Scholarship Service
expects students to use 35
percent of their savings each
year, as well as money earned
at summer jobs and any vet
eran’s or Social Security ben
efits.
To get a rough idea of your
degree of need, add your par
ents’ contribution to the
money you can put in, and
subtract the total from your
overall college costs. If there
is a gap, you should probably
apply for a Basic Educa
tional Opportunity Grant
and other forms of aid.
Even if you’ve been turned
down for aid in the past,
changes in your family’s
economic situation coupled
with liberalized formulas for
dispensing federal aid may
qualify you for some help in
the future.
To get a more accurate
idea of your eligibility for
help in paying for college,
use the detailed worksheets
in Meeting College Costs, a
free booklet published by the
College Scholarship Service.
The booklet can be obtained
from financial aid officers or
from College Board Publica
tion Orders, Box 2815, Prince
ton, N.J. 08541.
I —
Want the lowdown on government sources of funds for college?
Write for the free booklet Student Consumer's Guide available from
the Office of Education, Room 1127, 400 Maryland Ave S.W.,
Washington, D C. 20002.
Resolving the
Dependent/
Independent
Dilemma
If you can prove that you’re
truly self-supporting, you
may get more help in paying
for college by declaring fi
nancial independence. Status
as an independent means
that your income and assets—
not your family’s—are used
to determine your eligibility
for loans, grants, and schol
arships.
Proving independence in
volves meeting at least three
conditions: 1) that you haven’t
lived with your parents for
more than six consecutive
weeks in the past year; 2)
that you haven’t received
more than $750 in support
from your family during the
past year; and 3) that you
haven’t been listed as a de
pendent on your parents’ in
come tax return for the past
two years.
When you’re applying for
grants and loans as an in
dependent, be prepared to
back your claim with tax re
turns and other financial
documents. Since the gov
ernment has made an in
creased amount of aid avail
able to independents, it might
be worth your while to start
working toward independent
status as soon as you can.
Methods of estimating actual col
lege expenses and qualifying for
grants, loans, and scholarships
are covered in Money for College!
How To Get It. a handbook com
piled by a university financial aid
director. The major federal, state,
and private programs are cov
ered. as are aids for minority and
disadvantaged students A spe
cial section for married and in
dependent students and a glos
sary of financial aid terms are
particularly useful. Money tor
College! How To Get It, by Donald
R. Moore, Barron's Educational
Series, 1979, $2.25.