When history tallies up the biggest losers of the Great Recession, it's not hard to guess who will top the list. Facing a brutal job market, plummeting wages, and a mountain of debt, many recent college grads have fallen behind before they've officially started their careers.
Between rising tuition and a weak job market, some pundits argue that higher education isn't worth the money anymore. But college grads on average earn more than twice as much as workers with only a high school diploma. So how can you get a degree without spending the rest of your life in debt?
A report released on Thursday by the Institute for College Access & Success's Project on Student Debt shows that members of the class of 2010 who took out loans to finance their educations owed an average of $25,250 in student debt at graduation -- a 5% increase from the year before.
So your resident college student is knee-deep in student loans, tuition, fees and rent payments. But infusing her bank account will sap the funds you have earmarked for your retirement. What's a concerned parent to do? Help her start building up some savings of her own. Here's how:
The amount of student loan debt in America will exceed $1 trillion this year, and this week, President Obama acted to ease the burden on millions of college graduates. Which states need that help the most? 24/7 Wall Street breaks down the 10 states with the worst levels of student debt.
You thought it was your kid's SAT score that prevented him from getting admitted to the college of his dreams, but it may have been your credit score. More and more colleges are looking for students who can pay full tuition, and setting the admissions bar higher for those who need financial aid.
Worried about how to pay for college? The Princeton Review this week released its financial-aid ratings for more than 600 U.S. colleges. Find out which ones came out on top.
Bruce Watson recently took a look at the rising cost of private high school tuition. Can you bank on getting a strong return on investment from sending your teen to one? Depends on how you measure.
Women have a tendency to be labeled as worrywarts, and a recent financial survey seems to support that view. When it comes to financial stress, women are three times more likely to feel overwhelmed by their situations than men.
The big problem in public schools is a lack of funds, and the nation's elite private schools apparently have the same issue. But those schools can just raise tuition, which they've done to the tune of 79% in the past 10 years. Now, New York's Riverdale Country School is the first to cross the $40,000 line.
You can't clip coupons or bargain shop for many of your biggest household expenses -- but what if there was a way to get a discount? There is: You can often take pretax deductions from your paycheck and allocate it for basic expenses like child care, transportation and tuition.
In today's tough economy, a college degree is even more necessary -- though it's no guarantee of a job. But with tuition costs going through the roof, what's a frugal student to do? Try getting a deep discount on your degree with the help of the local community college.
