As senior Michael Newman looked into colleges this past fall, he considered factors such as location and campus life. One of the more pressing issues, he noticed, though, came to be cost.
“[Cost] was a very big factor actually, school is so expensive now,” Newman said. “I was trying to see which [college] would be the right one for me, but also to see which one would be affordable.”
Because of the high cost of certain schools, Newman felt that his choices were limited, and was unable to choose as big a school as he wanted. He also plans to apply for financial aid.
Newman is one of many seniors who are increasingly being forced to take into account the costs of college. While various forms of student aid have helped to lower some of these costs, many students still feel limited by costs when it comes on deciding which schools to apply to.
Sophomore Michelle Trilling’s older sister is already at college. She said that the recession is hurting her family’s finances, which has lead to concerns over how her family will deal with the rising cost of college tuition.
“My parents invest in real estate so they have lots of different houses; people rent them out. Many of them don’t pay their rent as much so they keep owing us more and more,” Trilling said. “I don’t think it’s affecting me as much as it’s affecting my parents.”
Another complication for Trilling and her parents has been paying for her sister in college.
“We need to pay for my sister’s college fund which is $50,000 a year; she has to get an apartment there because she’s going to be living there, she’s getting her PhD,” Trilling said.
Senior Aron Lurie, believes that his family will be able to support tuition for a four-year college. Lurie has applied to several schools, and said that while tuition costs are always a factor, other issues pertaining to the quality of the school are more important for him.
“Most of the schools I’ve applied to are pretty close in the price range,” Lurie said. He agreed that while it was unfortunate that costs had to be going up for college, the benefits of a well-rounded education often pay for themselves.
Lurie said that while he noticed some South students having to limit their choices, most students came from moderately wealthy backgrounds and were not affected by costs while working on their applications.
“Newton overall is pretty sheltered from the effects that the economy is having on a national scale,” Lurie said.
Lurie’s statement holds true for many areas of Newton. Although consumer spending has decreased virtually everywhere across the nation, most businesses in Newton have been able to maintain a level of realistic stability during the recession.
Junior Ben Chelmow feels fortunate to live in such a “privileged environment.” While he himself has not been affected by the economy, he has still noticed others who are more pressed in terms of money.
“Other students in this school are in a much worse predicament than I am,” he said. “There are other students here who are going to be in a much tighter situation, [concerning] their school choices.”
In the future, these situations are likely to only become tighter. With enrollment figures challenging even the most highly-regarded institutions, current projections show that without a change in application trends, colleges will need to continue to raise their costs.
Still, though, Chelmow is confident that schools may be in a better position to lower fees if the national economy can improve.
How much time that will take, he is still not sure.
“[The economy] is going to have to get worse before it gets better,” Chelmow said.
