Your College Price Tag

"Break the mold. Graduate in 4 years, as it may be your best money plan!"

Perhaps you are wondering why "break the mold"? Well, about 57% of students at four-year institutions graduate within 6 years (even less earn a degree in 4 years). Percentages of completion also vary by race/ethnicity and gender.  The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) publishes a Digest of Education Statistics on graduation rates for the 1996 through 2002 starting cohorts and across different types of institutions. The data are startling!

If you are just beginning college, you can make the decision now to graduate in 4 years. If you have been in college awhile, think about shortening your journey as much as you can - cancel the double major, cancel the minor, cut down on work so you can take more hours, etc.!

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Have a college money plan in place.

A college money plan may be your best money plan about finishing with a degree in a reasonable amount of time. You have to decide what is reasonable for you. Do consider that the longer it takes you the higher the price tag for your education.

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Lost Opportunity occurs the longer you take to graduate.

For example, hypothetically these 3 undergraduates all began college at the same time, did not need any developmental courses, and had the same number of credit hours for their degrees.

Their degree programs were each 120 semester credit hours.	Ronda graduated in 4 yrs	Chris graduated in 5 yrs	Maria graduated in 6 yrs
Time to degree (graduation)	30 credits earned per yr x 4 years (8 semesters)	24 credits earned per yr x 5 years (10 semesters)	20 credits earned per yr x 6.3 years (13 semesters)
Total of Tuition, fees, and books	$38,016	$42,122	$43,880
Hours x semesters (Fall and Spring)	15 hrs x 8	12 hrs x 10	9 hrs x 12 and 12 hrs x 1
Hours x semesters (Summer)	0	0	0
Summer job wages (no benefits)	$7350	$9800	0
Part-time job year long (no benefits)	0	0	$9360
5th year career salary earned	$41,920	0	0
6th year career salary earned	$41,920	$41,920	0
7th year career salary earned	$44,016	$41,920	$41,920
Total salary & value of benefits earned over 7 years since entering college	$135,206	$93,640	$51,280

Notes: The figures above are for illustrative purposes only and are based on the following:

1. Texas resident UTSA tuition and fees are based on the 2010-2011 academic year for the first year. A 5% increase is factored in for each additional year to graduation. (The increase could be more or less than what is used here.) Books are estimated to be $600 - $1000 per academic year depending upon the number of credit hours taken.
2. The summer job is estimated at 35 hrs/week @ $7 per hr x 10 weeks x 3 or 4 summers worked. No benefits.
3. The part-time job is based on 1,040 annual work hours and estimated @$9 per hr. No benefits.
4. The estimated entry-level, career annual salary salary of $32,000 plus an estimated 31% for benefits.
   (References: International Assn. of Employment Web Sites and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)

Chris and Maria had lost opportunity in comparison with Ronda because they decided to delay graduation. Likely, Ronda had to take out some student loans to finish in 4 years but she started paying them back sooner, with less outstanding debt.

Lost Opportunity sometimes is just "hindsight".

Opportunity Costs - use this interactive tool to help you see what could happen before it does happen to you!

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Track your degree progress!

Don't wander aimlessly down the college road! Know what you've done and what's left to get to the degree. As a UTSA undergraduate, you can generate a degree evaluation through your ASAP account. And if you are thinking about changing your major, generate a "what-if" plan to see how your credits fit. A lot of time and money are lost when students don't investigate before they make major shifts or schedule changes.

Use these instructions to generating a degree evaluation through ASAP (UTSA students only).

 

Sometimes life throws you a curve ball - tips for getting your degree back on track.

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I'm keepin' my eyes on the diploma prize...movin' forward to claim it!