Calculating the Total College Cost

While it is obvious that college tuition has risen over the years, how easy is the task of calculating the total cost and determining what income will be required to maintain a healthy financial future after graduation?

Gallup has conducted a Sallie Mae new study. “How America Pays for College,”While 58 percent of families had said that they had rejected schools due to the cost of school, 42 percent of families were not limited by cost when they began their application process. 70% of parents and students agreed that the student’s expected income after graduation was not taken into account or didn’t affect their borrowing decisions.

Sallie Mae, America’s largest saving-and-paying-for-college firm, has created Education Investment Planner. This free online tool helps students and their families to estimate the total cost of college, compare schools, decide if student loans are necessary, and project monthly payments.

“Sallie Mae offers this free online tool to help families make more informed choices about school selection by understanding upfront how to pay for it without going beyond their means,”C.E. Andrews, president Sallie Mae. “We developed the Education Investment Planner as part of Sallie Mae’s commitment to financial literacy and to helping students and parents understand the full cost of a college degree.”

The Education Investment Plannerwww.SallieMae.com/planFamilies can:

Get an estimate of how much it will cost to earn a bachelor’s or master’s degree in four years. Also, find out the average tuition growth over time.

– Create a personalized plan to pay college using a combination federal and state grants, personal money, scholarships, and, if needed, private student loans.

Compare the actual costs of approximately 5,500 colleges or universities. This includes tuition, average board and room expenses, fees, books, and supplies.

– Calculate whether students will need loans. If they do, then estimate their monthly payments after graduation. It also gives projections of how much a graduate could earn to pay the payments comfortably.