College Tuition Expenses – What would you do?
I have been asked by several people to reissue an updated college tuition expense newsletter. This year I’ve added some new schools and added a couple of technical schools as well.
The original reason I wanted to do the newsletter last year was to prove or disprove my belief that I should only pay for my daughter to go to an in-state school for college. If she wants to go out-of-state or private she can get a scholarship or work for the difference.
Thanks to Lilly’s mom keeping all of his sports memorabilia from high school and college I actually found a good use for his memorabilia other than Lilly bragging about himself 😊. There is some old college tuition information from his old high school paper from 30 years ago! So, this is going to be fun!
To get started let’s do a check and see how many colleges/technical schools are in the state of Georgia. Then we’ll see what schools are the hardest to get into.
There are 26 public colleges in the state of Georgia, 22 technical schools in the state of Georgia, and 49 small non-profit private colleges and universities. So, that’s a total of 97 schools in the state of Georgia.
According to Niche.com the following are the hardest colleges to get into in 2018 either by academics or low acceptance rates:
- Emory University
- Georgia Tech
- University of Georgia
- Fort Valley State
- Emmanuel College
- Berry College
- Toccoa Falls
- Wesleyan College
- Clayton State University
- Spelman College
This website shows that the top three on this list are the hardest academically to get into in the state of Georgia and a close 4th is Berry College.
So, how much does all of this cost and what can I expect?
Before I dive into the individual school comparisons; I want to show you the numbers from the Jonesboro High School newspaper – The Cardinal, from February 1988:
Public Vocational Tech School: $2,500 to $3,500 a year
Public Jr. College: $3,700 to 4,100 a year
Public 4-Year College: $4,900 to $5,500 a year
Private Jr. College: $5,100 to $6,200 a year
Private 4-Year College: $9,000 to $10,000 a year
Let’s look at today’s prices:
| Public Colleges: | Annual Tuition* | Housing/Food | Total |
| Georgia State University | $10,858 | $10,708** | $21,566 |
| Georgia Tech | $12,418 | $11,492 | $23,910 |
| University of Georgia | $11,818 | $10,060 | $21,878 |
| University of North Georgia | $5,460 | $10,440 | $15,900 |
| Average cost of above listed in-state public: | $20,813.50 | ||
| Private Colleges: | |||
| Brenau | $28,510 | $15,068 | $43,578 |
| Berry College | $35,176 | $12,290 | $47,466 |
| Emory University | $58,238 | $13,894 | $72,132 |
| Mercer University | $35,700 | $11,459 | $47,159 |
| Average cost of above listed private: | $52,583.75 | ||
| Technical Schools: | |||
| Lanier Technical Institute*** | $3,308 | N/A | $3,308 |
| Gwinnett Technical Institute | $3,402 | N/A | $3,402 |
| Average cost of above listed technical schools: | $3,355 | ||
| Popular Out-of-State Schools: | |||
| Clemson University | $34,590 | $9,144 | $43,734 |
| Auburn University | $29,640 | $8,656 | $38,296 |
| Average cost of above listed out-of-state: | $41,015 |
Based on today’s prices and the prices from 30 years ago this what we have learned:
Public Vocational Tech School: This cost is almost the same from 30 years ago
Public 4-Year College: This tuition has increased by approximately 278%
Private 4-Year College: And this cost has increased by about 429%
So, what should I do?
Not sure what happened, since last year, but I may have changed my mind about sending my daughter to go to an out-of-state school. She’s in the first grade and in the next 11 years so much can change; will the school inflation rate go lower? Most likely not. So, if I’m willing to send her to either a private school and as an option an out-of-state school my college planning goals are significantly different.
As the saying goes: “hope for the best (scholarship), plan for the worst (save mo-money)”. If this is an issue for your family we’ll help you calculate your worst and best case.
Thank you for reading!
Christina Jones
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
Financial Planner
Partner, Windsor Wealth
Recourses:
*Based on full-time, some of the colleges charge by the hour so I calculated 30 hours a year which is considered full-time to move onto the next year.
Some colleges did not have their 2018-2019 tuition schedules released yet, so this is the current 2017-2018 schedule.
Tuition is based on in-state residence for Georgia Schools and for out-of-state schools I have listed the nonresident costs.
Tuition is based on main campus costs if there are multiple campuses.
**This is based on one bedroom, one bath shares with 2 other college students
***If you over the age of 62 you can take any courses for free. You must pay the $306 of mandatory fees, but no tuition costs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_Georgia_(U.S._state)
https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/hardest-to-get-in/s/georgia/
https://www.finaid.gatech.edu/current-cost-overview
https://www.admissions.uga.edu/prospective-students/tuition-fees
https://ung.edu/financial-aid/costs.php
https://www.collegetuitioncompare.com/edu/139199/brenau-university/tuition/
https://berry.edu/aid/tuition/
https://apply.emory.edu/apply/tuition.php
https://bursar.mercer.edu/macon/cost-of-attendance/
file:///C:/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/0DQYKUJO/2018-2019-Rates.pdf
https://www.laniertech.edu/Tuition.aspx
https://www.gwinnetttech.edu/enrollment/financial-aid/tuition-fees/