Priced out of college? Students may decide they can't afford rising costs

As students swarm back onto Utah's college campuses this week, the first welcome-back gift many of them will get is an $800 receipt at the bookstore and a tuition bill 10 percent higher than last year.

And that's only a part of the picture.

Students will also be pinching pennies to pay for increased fees, transportation costs that have tripled in the past five years and school supplies that easily surpass $1,000 a year.

"Are we getting to the point where students are just going to say, I can't do this?" Barbara Snyder, vice president of student affairs at the University of Utah, said. "Utah is still quite a bargain, but that doesn't soothe a student when they've got a tuition bill to pay. What is the point where students and families are going to say, I just can't afford it?"

Altogether, Utah's college students are facing a rising cost of education that some leaders say may be heading for a tipping point.

And while the sticker shock for a college degree may not yet be deterring students in droves, the system is already seeing the effect of the cost crunch in an increase of part-time students, massive student debt and a longer length of stay as students work to finance their education.

"It's the frog in the boiling pot — it's not all at once," said Paul Brinkman, vice president of budgeting for the U. "It's a little tricky to know when someone would literally get priced out. Of course, that's probably occurring, but the question is, is it occurring in large enough numbers to be a concern?"

Sticker shock

Tuition increases at Utah's nine public universities and colleges are by far the largest chunk of the rising college cost with close to 10 percent increases annually since 2002. At the U., students have seen tuition go up by close to 50 percent in the past five years, and school leaders aren't projecting an end to those hikes any time soon.

But the real shock for many incoming freshmen is the additional costs not advertised in the school's tuition and fees. When books, room and board, transportation and extra expenses are tacked on, students at the U. will pay roughly $14,500 for a year's worth of education — a 45 percent increase in the past five years.

At Utah State University, undergraduates will pay more than $10,500 a year, according to the most recent 2005 estimates.

"If you give the full cost of attendance, it scares the heck out of people," Brinkman said.

Mark Spencer, associate commissioner for finance at the Utah System of Higher Education, said many new college students get their first big surprise at the campus bookstore, where they routinely rack up an average of $800 in books and supplies each semester. That cost, Spencer added, is going up by about 10 percent each year.