College is expensive (and affordable)

College is expensive (and affordable)

By Samuel Rusch, Kennesaw State University

KENNESAW, Ga. – Now that you have graduated from high school or received your G.E.D, it is time to start the next chapter in your life. As for how to begin, that’s entirely up to you. Join the workforce or continue your education. In today’s society, many consider it rather difficult to acquire a good job with security, benefits and one that you ultimately won’t hate without having a college degree. Before you start sending in your applications and visiting campuses, you should be well educated about the financial aspects and responsibilities of attending college.

The Constantly Changing Cost of College

According to collegedata.com, for the 2015–2016 academic year, U.S. in-state public college budgets averaged $24,061. Also known as Cost of Attendance (COA), this figure encompasses tuition, fees, housing and meals as well as books and other supplies. To some, that number comes with a side-helping of sticker shock.

But has the average COA to college always been this much? The answer is no.

According to the AJC in 2015, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved a 2.5 percent tuition increase for nearly all Georgia colleges for the fourth consecutive year. Kennesaw State University received a 4.4 percent increase.

Textbooks

According to NBC News in 2015, prices for college textbooks have increased by 1,041 percent since 1977. In 2014, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group reported that “65% of students said that they had decided against buying a textbook because it was too expensive and 94% of students who had foregone purchasing a textbook were concerned that doing so would hurt their grade in a course.”

“That’s a really sad statistic,” Kim Holland, Associate Director of Textbook Operations at the Kennesaw State University Bookstore said. “[When] I went to school you didn’t really have a choice; you had to have the textbook to pass the class.”

Holland has been working at the KSU Bookstore for nearly nine years and she expresses sympathy towards those endeavoring towards a college education.

“Of course, college textbooks are expensive,” Holland said. “I’m young enough to remember having purchased mine. I don’t know why [they’re so expensive], but we are owned by the university. Every dollar earned here is spent on campus for the students.”

Students are always pinching pennies and hoping to find affordable textbooks. Similar to Progressive’s “Name Your Price” tool, the KSU Bookstore’s Online Price Comparison feature allows for students to shop for their textbooks from more than eight different vendors simultaneously. In an effort to further humanize the university system, Holland is very proud of this feature because, although the bookstore can lose business, it can save students potentially hundreds of dollars.

Holland said that the KSU Bookstore frequently consults with professors and faculty members before they finalize the list of required textbooks for their courses. Holland described herself and her bookstore team as the facilitators that help students get what they need for less.

“If we see that a professor has selected an expensive textbook for their class,” Holland said, “we’ll reach out to them and say ‘Hey, did you know that this textbook is x-amount of dollars?’ and most of the time the faculty is pretty responsive.”

The KSU Bookstore is also expanding its efforts to save students money with its Open Educational Resource (ORE) program.

“An OER is a textbook that has been written by a professor for their course,” Holland said. The OER program is fairly new to KSU. Currently, there are only five different “basic core classes” partaking in the program such as math and theatre, according to Holland.

“The online versions of these books are available to students for free,” Holland said. Students also have the option to purchase hard copies of OER textbooks for $25 or rent them for $18, according to Holland. These textbooks will be revamped every two years and Holland hopes that, sooner rather than later, the OER Program will encompass upper level courses.

For the 2016-2017 academic year, KSU estimates that students will spend approximately $1,500 on “Books and Supplies.” No longer advertised at the KSU Bookstore, IRS form 8863 allows students to qualify for a $2,500 tax credit to be used towards textbooks and course materials.

“We used to have literature in store that advertised it,” Holland said. There have been recent discussions about putting up flyers to bring about further awareness to IRS form 8863, according to Holland. “We always tell students to keep their receipts. I tell them sometimes that you can use it for your taxes or your parents’ taxes. Of course, I’m not going to hit every student that comes in to the store, but I try to help out where I can.”

Financial Aid

Everybody has a different college experience. One major factor in determining that is the level of income for you and or your parents are making. In 2014, The U.S. Census Bureau showed that the median household income of Cobb County residents was $64,657.

KSU is home to more than 35,000 students making it one of Georgia’s largest universities. The Office of Student Financial Aid estimates that the COA for the 2016-2017 academic year is approximately $25,773 for undergraduate in-state students.

According to Sarah Baumhoff, Associate Director of Financial Aid at KSU, for the 2016 fall semester, 25,110 undergraduate and 1,300 graduate students received financial aid. But what types of financial aid are available to students?

Many companies offer tuition assistant programs to its employees. Companies such as PepsiCo, WellStar Health System, McDonald’s, Walmart, Best Buy, FedEx and dozens of others understand that getting an education is difficult and expensive and want to help its employees.

In most cases, an employee’s major must be in a field of study that their employer can benefit from. By incentivizing employees to work full-time and receive these benefits, companies hope that its employees will use the knowledge they have gained to help progress the company.

For unemployed students, the Federal Work-Study (FWS) program can help them earn money. Funded through a combination of federal and institutional funds, the FWS program allows for students to work 20 hour weeks, on and around campus, while earning a minimum pay rate of $7.25 per hour.

Funded by the Georgia Lottery, the HOPE scholarship is available to students who are able to maintain a 3.0 GPA while in college. In March of 2011, Governor Nathan Deal signed a new law into effect which excluded funds for books and mandatory fees from HOPE.

“According to the studies that were done at that time,” Baumhoff said via email, “the HOPE Program funding was in jeopardy of not being able to meet the expenses.”

HOPE isn’t alone in its financial battle. In 2015, The AJC reported that nearly 10 years ago, state funding was responsible for close to 75 percent of overall college expenses while tuition covered the outstanding 25 percent. With budgets cut and state revenue in decline, the university system increased tuition to compensate for the losses. Currently, tuition funds 50 percent of college costs.

Students can also apply for grants such as the Federal Pell Grant which offers between $590 and $5,815 per academic year. Other common grants include the Federal TEACH Grant and the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG).

If your GPA isn’t where you would like for it to be and you don’t have time to work, applying for a loan may be of interest to you.

The different types of available loans can be overwhelming: Direct loans, Parent Plus loans, emergency loans, Graduate PLUS loans, federal consolidation loans, private loans and more. A key thing to remember when applying for a loan is to know the difference between a subsidized and an unsubsidized loan. Knowing the difference can end up saving you a lot of money.

Interest for a Direct Subsidized Loan is paid for by the Federal Government while the loan is in deferment or while the student is in college. Interest starts accumulating for a Direct Unsubsidized Loan immediately after the loan is taken out.

Awarded to students who strive to be academic perfectionists is the coveted Zell Miller scholarship; truly, the holy grail of college scholarships. There are a variety of ways that students can qualify for the Zell Miller scholarship. While students are not mandated to complete high school with a particular GPA, they are required to maintain a 3.5 GPA while in college.

Recipients of the Zell Miller scholarship often graduate from college debt-free.

A Free College Education

Daniela Vinueza, 19, is a rising sophomore at KSU studying Mechanical Engineering and proudly preserving a 4.0 GPA. Recipient of the Zell Miller scholarship, HOPE, a Federal Pell Grant, and scholarships from the Society of Women Engineers and Walmart, Vinueza literally gets paid to attend college.

“It’s easy to have a high GPA,” Vinueza said. “If you put minimal effort into school then you can do it.”

Teaching part-time at Hiram High School as a Front Ensemble instructor for their marching band, Vinueza said that her passion for music has motivated her to maintain her GPA.

“Music instilled an ethic of work in me that I can apply to everything,” Vinueza said. “You can put a small amount of effort into everything and it will be easy. As long as you’re organized and you do everything that you say you’re going to do it’s easy to balance school, a social life and hobbies.”

Vinueza lives off campus and pays roughly $500 a month for rent and food. Making $600 a month at Hiram High School and receiving nearly $11,000 in scholarships annually, Vinueza not only makes money while going to college, she saves money.

“There is a scholarship for everything,” Vinueza said. “Keep applying until you find something that’ll help you out. Apply to all of the scholarships that you can and put aside time to actually try your hardest to get the highest grades you can get.”