By Liz Weston

January 27, 2019

The Detroit News published on January 27th, 2019 an article written by Liz Weston titled “More parents putting limits on college help”. Said article is about what the title implies, parents are not helping their kids pay for college as much anymore. Weston interviews and surveys parents with kids in or going to college to see how they are helping their children pay for college and their reason behind their help or lack thereof. Parents appear to not be paying for the cost of their children’s higher education in favor of keeping their retirement funds intact.

Weston backs her interviews with polls and surveys showing the change in parents attitudes on paying for their kids education. She shows that the amount of parents who refuse to touch their retirement funds to pay for college has increased. Additionally she found that the amount of parents who believe that college should be a shared cost has also gone up. However, despite this information the amount of parents who are saving for the kids to go to college is higher than those who are saving for retirement.

As a student who is going into college soon I know from experience how scary it is for your parents to tell you that they aren’t or can’t help pay for your college education. Even with plenty of notice, as one interviewed parent said to give your child when telling them they are paying for their college expenses, it is still a terrifying thought that you won’t be able to go to college without being in tons of debt due to student loans. While students can obtain grants and scholarships to help pay for their tuition those alone don’t always cover the rising cost of tuition. It’s hard to think that you may not be able to attend your dream college or even college at all because you can’t afford it and your parents can’t or won’t help.

Source: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/personal-finance/2019/01/27/liz-weston-parents-putting-limits-college-help/38956785/

According to this article, the cost of college has now jumped to the second most expensive purchase you’ll make within your lifetime. In the last years, tuition for college has risen about 3-5 percent a year. One big reason for this are the loan dollars that have become available to students going to college. These loans have lead to colleges feeling as if its alright to raise the prices as they have over the years. Yes, loans allow us to go to college but they set us up to be in debt for years. Especially with the rising of prices which put students in a tough situation that follows them for many years after completing school.

    These extremely high price tags for getting a education has scared parents of children attending colleges around the world. In the article, one source says that even though prices have become somewhat outrageous, the education is still there. I agree and disagree with this statement. Yes, the education is still there. However, this education is limited to students. Students who know they don’t come from a family with money might feel very discouraged to go to college knowing they might be on their own paying for this expense. From studies, 39% of students from low-income families attend community college. I believe this number will continue to rise as long as the price of college continues going down the same path.

        Is college worth it? Right now, yes it is. But with the rate at which the prices have been continuously rocketing upwards that answer could change over the years. When’s the point where people can’t really afford it at all anymore? When will people look at college as not worth it anymore? People soon might begin wondering is being in debt for however many years something I want to go through. One study as shown 57% of students regret the loan money they have taken out for college. I do not think the price of college should be a deciding factor whether one gets their education or not but this seems to be where the society is approaching at the rate we are going now.

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/12/college-costs-are-out-of-control.html