With the start of the second semester, juniors have started the college-search process and seniors have received decisions back from schools. With these events happening, college is becoming a major topic for students. Along with talks of college comes talks of being able to pay for it. But, with the rising price of education, how much will you really end up spending on college tuition? There are a number of different scholarships and forms of financial aid available, but does it add up enough to significantly cut costs for students?

Kim Clark points out in her article, “How Much Does College Actually Cost,” that “There are more than 4,400 colleges in the U.S. with prices ranging from zero to more than $60,000 per year.” With so many options it can be confusing when trying to figure out how much a college education will cost. Junior Annie Manista, says that she believes college will be very expensive. Annie mentioned that, “[cost] is not the deciding factor but it still plays a big part in the decision.” Annie, much like many other juniors beginning the college search process, believes that “college will be hard to pay for” but she knows that there is more to a school than its sticker price.

The good news about college costs is that there are plenty of tools and resources available to help. Many schools offer “net price calculators” and tools to help figure out what the actual cost of education will be. There are also a number of scholarships and forms of financial aid available for students to use to aid in the cost of college. The addition of these types of aid and being able to look past the initial sticker price of a school certainly help students and families as they prepare to pay for college education.