Families weigh college costs

The credit crunch is forcing many of your to rethink how you’re going to pay for college.   

A new study says nearly every state including South Carolina receives failing grade when it comes to college affordability.

The study by the national center for public policy and higher education says the affordability grade is based on what percentage of a family’s income goes to college expenses.  For poor and working class families that’s about 57 percent of your income.

College of Charleston senior Holley Springfield is working hard to earn and pay for her education.

“I’m actually here 15 hours a week.”

Not one to ask her parents for extra money, she works here at the school’s career center three days a week.

“I have the Palmetto Fellow scholarship. I’ve had it all four years. I also have student loans, but my parents give me a certain amount of money to live off of and I use the refund from my loans to pay for rent,” she explained.

Springfield counts herself lucky to be graduating with just $15,000 of student loan debt, but with a suffering economy students behind her and their parents are struggling to pay for quality education.

“They just raised the college tuition this past summer and working orientation it’s a big issue because you have incoming students who see this increase in tuition and they are freaking out about how to pay for it.”

In the past 25 years college costs have gone up about 400 percent making financial aid more expensive and harder to come by. Students say the economy is making the money squeeze even worse.

Financial aid experts say parents should start early investing in a college savings plan when children are young so the investment has time to weather economic storms.

High school students can also enroll in advanced placement courses to receive college credit.  This way they can avoid paying extra for summer school or even graduate college early.

More families are turning to community colleges or online courses for students to save money while getting prerequisite courses out of the way and then transferring to four-year schools.

Options that help students following Springfield enter the job market with less debt.

One popular way many parents choose to pay for college is a 529 savings plan.

Financial expert Paul Meeks says these are the best investments to choose because they have great tax advantages and are more flexible that other investments.

Here’s a look at how much tuition costs this school year in the palmetto state.

The College of Charleston charges $8,400 per year for in state students.
USC costs a little more at $8,838 and Clemson’s tuition is the most at $11,108.

These prices don’t include room and board or books.