Walmart Employees: Navigating the Rising Costs of College Tuition for Your Family

It doesn’t take a degree in finance to see the cost of college continues to rise.

In its 2017 report, the College Board showed that public four-year institutions raised prices an average of 3.2% annually between the 2007-08 and 2017-18 school years. Put another way, a $5,000 education in 2007-08 would cost $6,851 in 2017-18.

For a few families, the lion’s share of education costs falls on parents and, in some cases, on grandparents. For our Walmart clients who are parents you may already know, generally, the majority of families rely on a combination of scholarships, grants, financial aid, part-time jobs, and parent support to help pay the cost.

For Walmart employees who have children approaching college age, a good first step is estimating the potential costs. The accompanying worksheet can help you get a better idea about the cost of a four-year college.

For Walmart employees who already put money away for college, the worksheet will take that amount into consideration. For Walmart employees who haven’t, it’s never too late to start.

Resources

There are a number of resources that can help individuals prepare for college. The U.S. government distributes certain information on colleges and costs. Here are two sites for these Walmart employees to consider reviewing:

www.studentaid.ed.gov
The government’s college and financial aid portal.

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Articles you may find interesting:

www.collegeboard.org
The group that administers the SAT test.

Estimating the Cost of College