Category | Arts & Living

Economy has students putting college plans on hold

Published on November 25, 2008 by The Sentinel

    Joe Perri had big college dreams. He wanted to pursue a degree in photography from an arts school.

    He and his family saved, hunted for scholarships and applied for financial aid, but they eventually realized they simply couldn’t find enough help to offset the $40,000-a-year cost for his first choice schools _ the California Institute of the Arts and Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla..

    “It was a big bummer, but I understand,” said Perri, 18. “You get accepted to this big school, and you get so excited, but then your parents start throwing reality at you. We don’t have that much money.”

    So Perri changed course. He’s now a freshman at Broward College, formerly Broward Community College. He plans to spend two years there, saving money that he earns through a photography business he started on the side.

    Getting into co    llege is tough enough, but students now have to face a tough economy. About one out of six students have put their search for a college on hold, according to a survey conducted in October by MeritAid, a scholarship Web site. Another 57 percent said they’re looking for a less expensive, lesser-known school, just as Perri did.

    With his own retirement nearing and college costs coming at the same time, Perri’s dad says it’d be very difficult to pay big tuition bills without taking on student loans.

    “For most parents, with the economy being the way it is, the last thing you want to do is sink yourself into debt,” Mike Perri said. “I said ‘Joseph, your dream is still there, but sometimes we have to take side roads. The point is, you’re going forward.’”

    That cherished family and financial goal of sending the kids to college is under serious pressure.

    “You can hear about the economy a million times in school, but when it really hits home, the students realize what’s needed,” says Pam Kirtman, a college advisor at Nova High School in Davie, Fla.. “A college education is very important to them, but they may be losing their houses, their parents are losing their jobs, and even professionals aren’t working.”

    A sign of the crush: A record number of applications were received by the University of Florida last year and a near-record number by Florida State University. Those records may crumble when the current crop of applications is counted. At the University of Central Florida, 8,900 applications have been received from prospective freshman so far, up from 7,200 last year.

    The reason? “We wonder if many more students will be staying closer to home,” said FSU Director of Admissions Janice Finney, which had two years of near-record applications.

    Another possibility is cost. Florida schools are regularly touted as “Best Buys’ in education. Not only are in-state tuition levels comparatively low, but Florida’s Bright Futures program makes it possible for students with high grade point averages to earn scholarships.

    Community colleges are gaining, too. At Palm Beach Community College, enrollment, 28,600 students currently, is eleven percent higher than last fall. At Broward College, current enrollment is up 6 percent over last year at 33,600. The number of applications from high school students jumped by 20 percent.

    For some students, a community college is a good place to beef up skills to increase their marketability in a tough job market, said Grace Truman, director of college relations and marketing at Palm Beach Community College. For others, it’s the cost savings that drives them to community colleges. “The real savings is being able to live at home for the first two years,” she said.

    One issue all schools have to face is private student loans, which have become both essential and very difficult to find because of the credit crisis. Two-thirds of all undergraduates borrow some amount.

    “I don’t want to do student loans,” says Sarah Cochran, a senior at Pembroke Pines Charter High School, echoing the concerns of other students. “All those people are still paying them off while they’re paying bills when they’re older.”

    Cochran wanted to go to the University of Central Florida to study hospitality, with the goal of eventually working for Disney. Instead, she said she’s going to go to Broward College and hunt for scholarships and financial aid.

    The loans that parents take out for students, called “Plus Loans,” also are showing signs of distress. Plus Loan denial rates have jumped 26.5 percent over last year, through June.

    “It’s a contagion effect,” Kantrowitz said.

    It began with the surge in subprime mortgages going into default, he said. Mortgages are bundled into securities and sold to investors. So are student loans.

    “The lack of oversight of these irresponsible people has left us with this situation,” said Nova High Senior Lauren Barriere, who has decided to go to college in state if she doesn’t make it into an Ivy League school. “If it’s to pay a total over 120 grand for four years of college just to have a little bit better education, probably it isn’t going to be worth it.”