Monday, January 09, 2012

I had hoped...  

To have grandchildren earlierThis wasn't the reason, but...

New moms and dads with visions of Ivy League degrees dancing in their heads should be prepared to face a bill of $422,320 in today’s dollars if Junior heads off to one the country’s priciest colleges as a member of the class of 2034.

If college costs keep rising as they have for the last three decades, the inflation-adjusted price of four years of tuition alone will more than double at private colleges and nearly triple at public universities by the time a baby born this year is ready to enroll, an analysis by The Daily shows.

Even after adjusting for inflation, college tuition has increased by an average of 3.5 percent a year at private schools and 4.5 percent a year at public schools, the analysis showed. When room and board are factored in, the total cost of college has gone up by an average of 3.08 percent a year at private schools and 2.96 percent at public schools. [More depressing projections]
I wonder how this would compare to my own education cost and calculated in acres of farmland. If I remember correctly, it was about $6000 total at RHIT (1966-1970).  I think land was selling for about $600, so it cost ten acres to educate me.

Pricing land at $12,000/A, today's 4-year private education cost looks like about $160,000 or 13 acres. 

These are quick and dirty numbers - just thinking out loud.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice comparison at the end. Is the ratio of the going rate of two priceless things meaningful?

-CA Prof.