How much will it cost to go to college?

Help, I can't afford college.

It all started when two senior students of mine walked into my classroom on my lunch hour to share with me the sadness and frustration of discovering that their families could not afford the colleges they to which they had been accepted.  These two had learned too late that the costs of college are significant.

According to recent reports from the College Board, a "moderate" college budget for an in-state public college for the 2016-2017 academic year was nearly $25,000.  If it is a private school you are looking at, the price tag is almost double at $49,000.

For my own students, this means that even an in-state college such as University of Oregon will have a total cost of over $100,000.  And those two students who earned entrance into private schools, their family was looking at nearly a quarter of a million dollars in total college costs.  

I know the frustration of working hard on academics to get into that "reach school" only to find out that is not financially possible.  When I became a parent I was determined to set money aside for my children's college education.  It is never easy to set aside hard earned money for a distant goal.  But there are ways to make saving for college a little bit easier.

See CollegeData.com for more information on the costs of college.