More Bad News on College Costs November 25, 2009
Paul Partridge on frightening new college fees and costs.
More bad news, I’m afraid, on the college costs front, as two examples in last week’s news demonstrate.
First, the city of Pittsburgh, millions of dollars in the red, has come up with a new tax revenue source. It plans to start taxing the 100,000 college students studying at Pittsburgh’s seven colleges.
Starting next year, the city plans to levy a 1% tax on college tuition. For Carnegie Mellon students, for example, that translates into an extra $400 payment every year.
Pittsburgh is not alone. The city of Providence, RI (Brown University, Providence College, Johnson & Wales University, among others) has proposed a tax on college students of $150 per semester. And other cities are expected to follow suit.
Just as we pay extra fees for air travel these days (baggage fees, blanket fees, fees for food and drinks) don’t be surprised if you start seeing myriad extra fees added to colleges’ Cost of Attendance.
Meanwhile, we have the rapidly deteriorating condition of the California state university system. For decades, California’s colleges and universities have been considered the sine qua non of state schools. California residents could attend stellar institutions such as Cal Berkeley and UCLA at an 80-90 percent discount vs. comparable private schools.
The problem is, California is, if not already bankrupt, on the verge of bankruptcy. College tuition for in-state residents attending state schools is skyrocketing by $10,000 a year. That’s a 32% increase in just two years. Students are being forced to pay three times as much as they did a decade ago. Will the increases stop there? What’s your best guess?
Our clients save, on average, $10,000 per student for each year they’re in college. If you would like to learn proven ways to lower your out-of-pocket costs and overall cost of college, click here to schedule a complimentary diagnostic evalution.To read the article on Pittsburgh’s and Providence’s college student tax proposals, click here.To read the article on the woes of the California state university system, click here.
