College Affordability Survey Results

The cost of college continues to increase faster than inflation. Many families are concerned about how they are going to pay for their kids college. A recent survey on College Affordability was conducted by Discover Student Loans. Here are a few highlights:

• More parents feel financially unprepared to pay for college this year than in previous years
  • Nearly three-quarters (70%) worried about having enough funds, compared to 66% last year and 63% in 2021 
• More than one-third (36%) of parents said they are in a worse financial position to help pay for college compared to last year 
• Nearly three-quarters of parents feel that college is necessary to find a good job (73%) 
• 46% of parents are questioning whether college is still a good investment 
• 68% of parents surveyed are nervous about the amount of debt their children will take on compared to their post-college career earnings. 
• Nearly half (45%) of surveyed parents said they will use student loans to pay for their children’s education
  • This is up 4 points and 18 points from 2022 and 2021, respectively