My Kids College Costs Are Scaring Me

I have a son who will be a senior in high school in September.  He has been told that he is a pretty good football player.  He was invited to several college football tryout camps this summer.

June and July each year are the most important college football camp months for high school seniors. These football camps provide the opportunity for high school seniors to visit college campuses and get noticed by the football coaching staff of a college that they would like to attend.

I got a chance to think through a summer football camp summary on the plane ride home last weekend. The first thing I did was to add up the costs of our summer football camp visits.

I was surprised by the numbers. I then was scared by the numbers.

I spent more money on college visits and football camps this summer than it cost me for my first year of college at the University of Minnesota in the fall of 1976.

I paid about $1500 per quarter for tuition, books and fees in 1976. Back then, the University of Minnesota had three quarters of classes each school year.  So, I paid about $4500 to attend classes in my first year of college. 

In one generation, it now costs as much to visit a handful of colleges than it did to attend one for a full year. I no longer have a hard time understanding why some of my clients with older children were always so concerned about the cost of college.

I am now beginning to wonder how I am going to react when the first college tuition bill arrives in my mailbox.

Ric Lager
Lager & Company, Inc.