College - with costs going up, how do families and students cope?

I was sent a great article today by Noah Bernstein, Op-Ed Contributor to the New York Times on the Opinion Pages.

Costs are going up!

Here is that link: The Hidden Costs of Higher Ed. I am sure that a lot of nontraditional students can personally relate to this article.

The story explains that since schools have started accepting credit card payments, this tacks on additional fees to the families or people that can least afford it.

Bernstein goes to explain that the original purpose of spreading out payments was meant to help families. Since people who have less money must sometimes use their credit cards to pay, this adds up.

People who have the money to pay ahead, and pay using checks (usually wealthier people) have the advantage of locking in lower rates and avoiding the service charges that go with credit cards. The for-profit credit card companies have to make a profit, he goes on, and make that profit from people going to college and their families.

And, of course, costs keep going up. Having these policies in place, once thought to be helpful to schools who invested in the stock market, makes it harder for some people to pay for school.

This is a great article, and worth a look.

Do you pay your college costs with a credit card sometimes? Do you think college costs will continue to go up?

Here is that link again:

The Hidden Costs of Higher Ed by Noah Bernstein.

Write your thoughts in the comment section below. Later!

And here are some more nontraditional student links: The Nontrad site and blog Join Nontrads on Facebook Nontrads on Yahoo Nontrads on Twitter 

The neat clipart at the top of this posting is from the Microsoft Clip Art Pages.