September 08, 2006

Scholars Pay Many Dollars, Receive Some Too

Full-time college students pay an average of $10,560 in college costs per year (tuition, books, room, and board) according to 2001-2002 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Student aid averaged $6,291 and came from Pell Grants (average: $2,701), work study ($3,043), loans ($5,924), employer assistance ($3,600), among other sources. The recently released data show student characteristics, dependency status, enrollment level, marital status, work status, veteran status, and other topics.

In all, over 11 million college students (both full-timers and part-timers) received some form of financial aid outside their families to help pay for their education; about 7.5 million of these were full-time students. Higher education pays off - but costs some dollars to acquire.

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