GOALS:
• Students will increase their awareness and understanding of the multiple costs that constitute a college education and institution-to-institution differences in financial assistance provision
• Students will consider their individual financial situations and assess against financial requirements of various types of post-secondary institutions and types of aid available for possible good financial fits
OBJECTIVES:
• Students will consider all kinds of costs involved in the total price of a college education
• Students will perform activity that urges them to reflect on personal financial standing and compare to averaged financial demands of educational institutions and averaged aid amounts
ASCA STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
• C:A1.7 Understand the importance of planning
COMMON CORE STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1b Work with peers to promote civil, democratic discussions and decision-making, set clear goals and deadlines, and establish individual roles as needed.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.2 Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE:
No specialized prior knowledge is necessary to complete this lesson.
The large-group simulation uses data from Texas and California. Instructors may connect more specific and detailed numbers closer to student interests with this table: http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/state-tuition-and-fees-state-and-sector-over-time
Here are helpful articles for instructors looking for more information: http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2010/college/
https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/misc/trends/2014-trends-college-pricing-report-final.pdf
MATERIALS:
• Student Paths article “10 money-saving tips for high school and college” from Related articles
• Class set of Activity (REPRODUCIBLE B)
• Optional class set of Real Costs (REPRODUCIBLE C)
Optional student video on money-saving tips by Abby Anfinson, http://bit.ly/15oUdGP
LESSON OVERVIEW:
This lesson has three stages across a 30-minute class period.
• Anticipatory large-group discussion about college tuition (8 minutes)
• Reading and questions (10 minutes)
• Choose a Path Simulation (12 minutes)
ASSESSMENT:
During activity, instructor asks students where they can find more information about college costs. Student answers provide a general, informal assessment of student knowledge of college.
LESSON PROCEDURE:
Large-Group Discussion (8 minutes)
Introduce a short discussion about college costs. Write the following figures on the board, and have students guess what they represent:
Tuition for 2010-2011 Academic Year
2-year public $8,085
4-year public $15,918
2-year private $23,871
4-year private $32,617
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=76
Write “Tuition for 2010-2011 Academic Year” on the board and ask: Tuition is one of many costs of a college education each year. What other things do students need to pay for after they graduate high school?
Use student responses to list general living expenses, including room and board plans (rent), train ticket or mileage incurred (travel), food, health supplies, phone, computer, and books.
Conclude large-group discussion with the question: Where could we go to find more information about college costs and cost of living?
Answers provide instructor general assessment of where students go for information.
Read and Discuss Article (10 minutes)
Distribute the Student Paths article “10 money-saving tips for high school and college” and instruct students to read the advice and write a brief reaction in the margins of the article.
After students complete the reading, ask: What is the best tip the author offers? Explain why this is better than others.
Is there any bad advice? What cautions should we take with that tip?
Answers will vary, so encourage critical thinking and practical application of the 10 tips. Keep discussion brief to keep a positive mindset going into the next simulation that challenges students to estimate an annual budget.
Large-Group Simulation to Project Annual Expenses of a College Education in 2018 (12 minutes)
The goal of this simulation is for students to contemplate the question: Will you pay more or less for a college education in 2018 than students paid in 2008?
The College Board College Pricing figures show average published tuition and fees by state 2004-2013: http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/state-tuition-and-fees-state-and-sector-over-time
Project or copy a few of the figures from this for students to understand in full:
Example of change in tuition at Public Four-Year in Texas and California:
2004-05: Texas ($6,139), California ($5,074)
2012-13: Texas (8,354), California ($9,368)
5-year % Change: Texas (18%), California (72%)
Direct attention to 5-year % change, and introduce the concepts of “inflation” and “devaluation.” Will the cost of a college education be higher or lower in 2018? Most students are likely to predict a rise in price, so encourage critical thinking in this simulation
Distribute REPRODUCIBLE B. This contains instructions for a 10-minute, large-group simulation task. Ask for two students to volunteer as:
1. Reader to read aloud the entire simulation on REPRODUCIBLE B.
2. Facilitator for the decision-making process to estimate a budget and choose a college path.
Instructor should allow students to lead the simulation; set timer for 10 minutes, and circulate the room, encouraging every student to write their own estimate of 2018 costs on the table next to 2008 estimates on REPRODUCIBLE B.
Students have information on a table that details the average estimated undergraduate budgets for 2008-2009, courtesy of a study by the College Board (the full study can be viewed at https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/misc/trends/2014-trends-college-pricing-report-final.pdf).
The catch of the large-group simulation is for students to form a majority, which will earn them an imaginary special grant for a halfprice discount in tuition. Remind students to be careful in their budget estimates. The prompt is: An imaginary, special grant will be available to students in the group with class majority. These students will payonly half price as long as their estimated budget matches the annual cost in 2018.
This simulation challenges students to estimate an annual budget for college while considering multiple costs of living beyond tuition. The forced-choice between 3 options will encourage students to consider multiple options.
Every student is instructed to answer all 3 questions:
What should we estimate our annual budget to be in 2018? (write estimates next to 2008 figures)
What college path is best for me in imaginary 2018? Circle One: Private 4-year, Public 4-year, or Public 2-year
What college path is best for the majority of the imaginary class? Circle One: Private 4-year, Public 4-year, or Public 2-year
Conclude this simulation with a 1-minute warning after 9 minutes of activity.
First question to conclude: Ask the facilitator to provide the general class consensus on the estimated total cost of each path.
Write figures on the board. Private 4-year, Public 4-year, and Public 2-year
Second, ask students what path would be best for them. Instruct students to write a number between 1 and 10 next to their answer to describe how confident they are that this is the best path: 1 indicating little confidence and 10 being the maximum. Remind students that this answer takes time and that the simulation provided only 3 of the many options students have after high school.
Third, call and count a vote with a raising of hands to see what path students will take in the imaginary 2018 to determine if there is a majority in the class (more than half the students choose one path). Applaud and act appropriately to student’s reactions to the outcome of this simulation.
Finally, students may want to know the accuracies of their estimates. Remind students that uncertainty is part of the nature of budgets and costs. Before each year and quarter begins, we plan and estimate a budget so that after the year is over, we may account for the actual annual costs and to make a reasonable estimate and plan for the next year. This is a process successful college students must understand to finance their goals.
REPRODUCIBLE B, Activity Handout
Lesson: Top tips to reduce the cost of college
Imagine our class is full of college students. Our class is learning about financial planning, and each student must make an immediate decision on how much we will spend next year on a college education.
We conducted a survey of our imaginary class, and discovered the average, estimated budget for a private, 4-year, reside-on-campus, college is $37,390; the estimated budget for public, 4-year, in-state, on-campus, college is $18,326; and the average, estimated budget for a public, 2-year-institution is $14,054. Find these numbers from the College Board Annual Survey of 2008 in the table below.
Average Estimated Undergraduate Budgets, 2008-09 (Enrollment-Weighted) from The College Board, Annual Survey of Colleges, 2008
All Students Private 4-Year Public 4-Year Public 2-Year
Average Amount of Grant Received: All students ($4,000), Private 4-year ($7,700), Public 4-year ($4,000), Public 2-Year ($2,200)
Average Amount of Loan Borrowed: All students ($5,800), Private 4-year ($6,900), Public 4-year ($5,800), Public 2-Year ($3,600)
Now imagine it is 2018, and each student in this class must decide the college path that is correct for them.
An imaginary, special grant will be available to students in the group with class majority. These students will pay half price as long as their estimated budget matches the annual cost in 2018.
In 10 minutes, the instructor will end this simulation, and call a vote to see if every student has chosen the same or if only one group of students will earn the half-price discount grant.
Every student must answer all 3 questions before the end of this simulation:
What should we estimate our annual budget to be in 2018? (write estimates next to 2008 figures)
What college path is best for me in imaginary 2018?
Circle One: Private 4-year, Public 4-year, or Public 2-year
What college path is best for the majority of the imaginary class?
Circle One: Private 4-year, Public 4-year, or Public 2-year
The Real Costs
We asked the students below to share a little bit about what their first year at college cost them once they added in miscellaneous expenses and subtracted the costs being taken care of by financial aid resources. The overall costs might just surprise you.
Amanda Cobb, North Idaho College
Tuition: $1,100 per semester
Books: $200
Food/entertainment: $200/month
Residence: $165/month for rent
Grants/Scholarships: $250
Loans: NONE
Work study: NONE
Total per year: $6,730
Bertel King, Jr., College of William & Mary
Tuition: $21,000
Books: $300
Food/entertainment: $100/month
Residence: $8,000/year
Grants/scholarships: $8,000
Loans: NONE
Work study: NONE
Total per year: $22,800
Melissa Regan, Gustavus Adolphus College
Tuition: $36,000
Books: $600/semester
Grants/scholarships: $24,000
Loans: NONE
Work study: NONE
Total per year: $13,200
Anonymous student, Yale University
Tuition: $49,700
Books: $2,500
Food/entertainment: $40/month
Grants/scholarships: $49,700
Loans: NONE
Work study:NONE
Total per year: $2,980
