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Part four of KSL's exclusive five-part series: "Watching Utah's Money. Save more and spend less with Clark Howard." A fresh batch of high school graduates is getting ready for college and that is giving parents a fresh batch of heartburn over the cost. How do you afford higher education for your student during this economy? Clark says the key is going to be avoiding traditional four-year colleges, what he likes to call sleep-away college.
He said, "Community college is what's going to close the gap in this recession. There is really not a reasonable path for her going away to sleep-away college four years; that's what I call traditional college-- is sleep-away college. Going to sleep-away college for four years is so expensive."
Clark says it isn't just tuition hurting your bank account at a university away from home. He explained, "[It's] not just the tuition, but all the cost of essentially establishing a separate household. If parents will think about steering their sons or daughters to spending the first two years at a community college where the tuition is so low, it's almost insignificant, and then they're stuck living at home with you for those first two years."
Clark says you lose lots of money, but no prestige by picking a university over a junior college. He said, "Nobody ever asked where you started school. People, if they ask anything, will ask where you graduated from. And getting those two years under your belt, low cost, means that that 10,000 you've got stretches so much further for the junior and senior year."
Tune in to Clark Howard's special reports "Watching Utah's Money" all this week at 5:40 a.m. and 7:40 a.m. on KSL Newsradio 102.7FM/1160AM.
