College Tuition

Several leading universities have taken steps to reduce the exorbitant tuition rates for middle- and lower-income families. That's good news for the elite few who get in to the Harvards and Yales. But what about the rest of the schools? College tuitions keep climbing, but many students have no recourse but to take out more loans, often at steep interest rates. The likelihood of being in debt for a dozen years discourages many from going to college and is a big reason others do not finish.

Leo I. Higdon Jr. is president of Connecticut College College tuition is a bargain. I lobbed this sentence into a lively dinner-party conversation about the rising cost of college, and the response was a universal "Huh?" This from a roomful of highly educated, talented people who, one might think, would understand the value of higher education. I discovered it isn't the value people misunderstand; the actual cost of education is the mystery. The questions I answered that evening were questions people everywhere are wrestling with.

The cost of a college education is still climbing faster than inflation, but the rate of growth is slowing, statistics released yesterday by the College Board show. Board officials said the average tuition at a four-year college rose 4.6 percent this year. But experts say they doubt college costs will ever stop growing more rapidly than other prices. Thus, paying for higher education is likely to present an ever more daunting burden, particularly to lower- and middle-income Americans whose children don't qualify for big scholarships but who can't pay college bills without borrowing heavily.

Students at New Jersey's public colleges will pay higher tuition in the fall, but the increases in most cases will be smaller than in previous years. Tuition increases will average 9.3 percent at state colleges and universities, compared with 13.4 percent last year, according to the state Department of Higher Education. Community-college tuition will increase by an average of 10 percent, as opposed to 11.1 percent last year. Chancellor Edward D. Goldberg, who had asked the colleges to hold down tuition costs, yesterday said he was pleased that most had done so. And he stressed that things could have been worse.

The Glassboro State College Board of Trustees yesterday approved a tuition increase of $5 per credit hour, or an average of $150 per semester, effective at the beginning of the 1987-88 school year. This is the first year the trustees have been able to raise tuition without state approval. A state autonomy law that took effect this year empowers colleges to raise tuition; formerly, that power belonged solely to the state. Costs to attend the college, including room and board, will rise from about $4,885 to about $5,135.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - President Obama embraced the idea of federal action to restrain the rapidly increasing cost of higher education, giving a boost to a policy idea that has been gaining steam. His proposal that colleges and universities cut costs or risk losing out on some federal aid was part of a larger package of "college affordability" ideas that the president unveiled Friday in a speech at the University of Michigan. Obama wants to increase funds for higher education, mostly through an expansion of federal loan programs.

College tuition costs across the country will increase an average of 5 to 9 percent this fall, a marked slowdown in the double-digit increases of recent years, according to a national survey to be released today. However, a number of leading schools in the Philadelphia area report much higher tuition hikes for the 1989-90 school year. Tuition at Rutgers University, the state university of New Jersey, will rise 13 percent, nearly double the national average for public schools, while that at St. Joseph's University, a Jesuit school on City Avenue, will increase 16.2 percent, close to twice the average for private schools.

Wracked by the recession, four-year public colleges have increased tuition and fees 12 percent this school year to an average of $2,137, the College Board reported in a survey released today. It was the first double-digit tuition increase at publicly funded colleges in eight years, the board said. At four-year private colleges, tuition and fees have risen 7 percent to an average of $10,017 for the current academic year, the board reported. Among two-year community colleges or junior colleges, tuition at publicly funded schools rose 13 percent to $1,022; tuition at privately funded schools increased 6 percent to $5,290.

It sounds intriguing at first. You make a single payment now, often less than $10,000, and forever put aside worries about how you'll pay the ever- escalating cost of a college education for your child. The prepaid, or advance, tuition-payment programs, pioneered by Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and by several state-funded plans, have gained in popularity in recent years. They offer the obvious advantage to a parent of paying for four years of college tuition at current rates, when a child is only a toddler, and then saving what could be thousands in fees years later.

No matter how old your kids are - 14 months or 14 years - it's never too early to plan for college, because a four-year college education carries a hefty price tag. For the current academic year, the average price of tuition, fees, room and board, and other expenses at a public college totals $8,885. At a private college the costs average $17,220. One year at an Ivy League school is about $21,125. Experts estimate that costs will increase around 7 percent a year. This means the parents of today's newborn will face a bill of approximately $32,100 (public school)

Leon T. Mingo was not exactly a poker shark. He and some old pals would get together every other weekend. They weren't poker sharks, either. "He would come home, saying, ‘I won!' and pull out his $1.25 take," said his wife, Della Mingo. "They played for quarters, so the time together was the big thing. " Family and friends were what shaped Leon's life and gave it meaning. Loyalty and devotion were his major characteristics. Some family members and friends who were down on their luck or just trying to find themselves would be welcomed to stay in his home — sometimes for years — until they were able to strike out on their own. Leon Mingo, a Navy veteran who suffered a disabling injury while serving aboard an aircraft carrier in 1967, a man of wide knowledge respected by many friends who sought him out for an education that came with their friendship, died of pancreatic cancer on May 12. He was 72 and lived in East Norriton, but had lived many years in East Oak Lane.

By John Braxton ?and Stephen Jones City Council will hold a hearing on the Community College of Philadelphia's budget on Tuesday, and it could be standing-room only. The college's slogan is "The Path to Possibilities," but when it comes to spending, it has lost its way. The college's primary mission is to provide education and training for working- and middle-class students. But it has become the most expensive community college in the state, with tuition and fees accounting for more than 50 percent of its operating budget.

DESPITE GOP rival Rick Santorum's claim to the contrary, President Obama never said that every American youth should go to college. However, he does have a number of proposals - some of them probably dead in the political water - that could mean more diplomas for more young people. Since taking office in 2009, the president claims credit for several successful reforms targeting college affordability - including increasing awards of Pell Grants to 50 percent more students, a cap on student-loan repayments and a tuition-tax credit worth as much as $2,500 per student.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - President Obama embraced the idea of federal action to restrain the rapidly increasing cost of higher education, giving a boost to a policy idea that has been gaining steam. His proposal that colleges and universities cut costs or risk losing out on some federal aid was part of a larger package of "college affordability" ideas that the president unveiled Friday in a speech at the University of Michigan. Obama wants to increase funds for higher education, mostly through an expansion of federal loan programs.

With college tuitions at record highs and families in a mood for bargains, a handful of institutions - including Cabrini College in Radnor - are doing what once seemed unthinkable: cutting prices. Cabrini, a small, private Catholic school on the Main Line, announced it was reducing tuition 12.5 percent, from $33,176 to $29,000. The price will take effect for the 2012-13 school year and remain at that level through May 2015. Housing and fees are about $13,000 extra. Other schools are offering even bigger discounts.

The operator of a Philadelphia hospice-care business was indicted Wednesday for allegedly defrauding Medicare of $14.3 million. Matthew Kolodesh, of Churchville, Bucks County, operated Home Care Hospice Inc. in the 2800 block of Grant Avenue and was charged with submitting claims to Medicare for patients who weren't eligible for hospice or who didn't receive care, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said. Among the ineligible patients were people who weren't dying, according to the grand jury indictment.

Question: My parents are in their mid-60s. They're retired and having a wonderful time, which I'm very happy about. Recently I was visiting them and, out of nowhere, my mother said, "I hope you kids know your father and I aren't going to be leaving you anything when we die. Our legacy to you was raising you well and loving you the way we do. " I wasn't sure what to say, so I made some nondescript response to see if she would continue, but she...

She's got the looks, poise, and voice. But whether spunky Chester Springs singer-songwriter Katelyn Krapf makes it - wherever it resides these days - depends on fickle strangers with laptops. Krapf, a soulful West Chester University freshman, seems completely unfazed by the thought of trusting her fate to electronics. Just 18, she's already a veteran of two American Idol auditions and a $20,000 Nashville recording scam. The 2010 Downingtown High School East graduate has five websites where fans can look, listen, and learn about the self-described "nobody.

Dr. William J. Doorly, 81, of Bryn Mawr, a Presbyterian minister, educator, and author of six books drawn from studies of ancient Israel, died of esophageal cancer Sunday, Jan. 9, at Bryn Mawr Hospital. Dr. Doorly taught biblical studies at Neumann University in Aston from the mid-1990s until 2002. For several years, until becoming ill in 2008, he was an interim preacher at Arch Street Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Dr. Doorly's first book was the publication of his doctoral thesis, The Prophet of Justice , in 1989.

DEAR ABBY: When my two boys were young, I agreed to a reduction in child support payments with the understanding that my ex would help later with their college tuition. This was not put in writing. Now both my boys are in college and their father is refusing to help. When I asked him to at least help with the costs of their books, he said, "That's what child support was for. " I guess I should have seen this coming, as he has been cruel and unreasonable toward me for the past 22 years.