A College Education Is A Sound Investment
Americans believe a college education is worth the money, but they don’t believe college is affordable and don’t know where to go to get reliable information about financial aid, according to the findings of an extensive research study conducted on behalf of a broad coalition of higher education associations and institutions. The study identifies a wide gap between what the public knows about financing higher education and what it believes it knows. The study overwhelmingly showed that the public is not aware of how much financial aid is available to help meet college bills or where to find it. They also greatly overestimate the price of attending college. Overall, the study revealed six key findings: - The public worries a great deal about the price of college. Seventy-one percent of those surveyed believe that college is too expensive. Additionally, 79 percent of African Americans and 82 percent of Hispanics are more likely to think that college is not affordable. - Despite the public’s worries about the affordability of higher education in general and a positive self-assessment of their personal ability to afford it, the public has a distorted view of what it costs to attend college — thinking it costs considerably more than it does.