In just a few years, many of us will be attending college.

There are many schools to

choose from and subjects to study, but its an expensive few years to go through. Unfortunately

for students, the expenses will continue to rise for years to come.

Currently I am interested in attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Ive been invited

by them to apply to the university, and Im considering the option. The school offers many

interesting areas of study and is very science and math oriented. These are my two best subjects,

so a school that emphasizes these areas is inviting to me. The faculty as well as the students is

highly successful, and there are many degrees earned yearly. Programs for research in new areas

are expansive and there are many resources available for use.

RPI puts the cost of the first full year of education for 2012-2013 at approximately

$59,470. This estimate includes tuition, fees, room and board, and books and supplies. The

common college inflation rate is 8% and is used to determine the increase of exponential growth.

The exponential growth function is as follows: = (1 + ) In this equation, A is the final

amount after growth, P represents the initial value, 1 is %100 of the original value, r is the

rate of growth, and t is the time. In order to find out the cost for each year at the school, the

equation has to be solved for A. Since the estimated cost of this year is 59,470, this value is

substituted for P. The rate of %8 must be converted to decimal form, .08, and is substituted for

r. I wont be in college until 2016, 3 years from now, so 3 is substituted for t for the first year,

4 for the second, 5 for the third, and 6 for the fourth. Using these values, the equation was

evaluated to find the total cost of attending college for each year (see appendix). The first year

comes out to approximately $74,915.07, the second is $80,908.28, the third: $87,380.94, and the

fourth: $94,371.42. All four years combine to a total of $337,576. This is quite a high cost, and

would be impossible to be pay for without any financial aid.

 In order to afford the high price, I would need something to help. Financial aid from the

school, such as scholarships, is possible. It would help pay for some of the expenses, but its not

guaranteed to provide enough to allow me to attend the school. To get more assistance, I could

take out a loan and pay it off over the years during and after college. In order to pay off the loan

and possibly help more with college, I would have to get a job. I doubt I could pay for college

with any one of these things alone, so a combination of all of them would provide the most

amounts of help.

If my parents opened a savings account at my birth to pay for college, the amount would

be very high as well. The account was at a %6 interest rate compounded annually, and the funds

would be saved for 18 years. Using the compound interest formula of = (1 + )() , the

original value in the account that would produce enough to pay for the total cost of college was

calculated. All variables represent the same values, except the new variable n which represents

the number of times the account is compounded. This time P is the value being solved for, the

original value. The total cost of all four years, 337,576, is substituted for A, the rate of %6 is

converted to decimal form, .06, and substituted for r. The account is compounded annually, so

n is equal to 1, and t is 18, the years from birth to college. When solving for P, the initial

value was calculated when the account is compounded annually, semi-annually, monthly, and

annually (see appendix). For annual compounding, the initial value would be $118,267, semi-

annually would be $116,475, monthly: $114,948, and daily: $114,649.

If I took out a loan of $20,000 to help pay for school, I would obviously have to pay it

back. The website FinAid calculates the interest and payments each month in order to pay off the

loan in a certain amount of time, and a range of salaries which would allow for comfortable

living. If I were to pay off the loan over 5 years, the monthly payments would amount to
$394.14, and the range of sustainable yearly salaries spans from $31,531-47,296. A 10 year

payment plan would create monthly payments of $230.16, and yearly salaries range from

$18,412-27,619. Paying off the loan over 20 years would require monthly payments of $152.67

and yearly salaries range from $12,213-18,320.

So, through this, I have seen how much it costs to pay for a college education and the

measures you would have to take in order to afford education, especially for such an expensive

school. It would be difficult to afford this specific school. I would definitely have to get a job in

order to afford tuition or pay off student loans, and also live comfortably. I would have friends

and a life outside of just academics, so outside spending would factor in to the cost of all this. I

hope to go to good college, maybe not one as expensive as this, but it would still cost a lot. In the

future I will have to decide how I will handle affording my education as well as other things.

This project has prepared me for the future and allowed me to see how quickly college prices

will rise and what I have to prepare for.

http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml

http://www.rpi.edu/