College tuition fees exceed 60,000

College tuition fees exceed 60,000 (Alberta Times) A ​​college degree in the United States may be becoming less and less valuable, but the cost of a four-year college education continues to rise. College News…

(Alberta Times)

A college degree in the United States may be becoming less valuable, but the cost of a four-year college education continues to rise. Campus Grotto, a university news publication, said the tuition for a year of college exceeded $60,000 for the first time this year. Campus Grotto compiles a list of the most expensive colleges in the United States each year. This year's Campus Grotto list shows that more than 70 universities have tuition fees above $55,000. Sarah Lawrence College in New York State topped this year's list, with a yearly tuition of $61,236, followed by New York University ($59,837). Harvey Mudd College in California ranked third, with a yearly tuition of $58,913, followed by Columbia University in New York ($58,742) and Wesleyan University in Connecticut ($58,202). Tuition at this price level requires students to seek financial assistance through student loans and other means. This has also caused the total amount of student loans to rise. A new report from the Pew Research Center states that one in five families in the United States has to resort to student loans. Last year, U.S. student debt exceeded $1 trillion. 40% of households with heads under the age of 35 have student loans. The average outstanding amount of student loan debt for all households increased from $23,349 in 2007 to $26,682 in 2010. Tuition at four-year public colleges rose an average of 15 percent from 2008 to 2010, fueled by state cuts to higher education budgets and steep tuition hikes in states such as Georgia, Arizona and California. According to the Campus Grotto ranking, the 6 to 10 most expensive universities in the United States this year are: Claremont McKenna College in California ($58,065), Dartmouth College (Dartmouth College), an Ivy League school in New Hampshire ($57,996), Drexel University in Pennsylvania ($57,975), and the University of Chicago (U. of Chicago ($57,711), and Bard College in New York State ($57,580).