College is an important part of every student’s life; you’re stepping out into the real world and doing everything on your own. No hand-holding, just you out there trying to get by. Starting in high school, people get worried about what they will major in, what college they will go to, what type of school they want to go to, but most importantly, the cost of a college education. College tuition is very expensive, ranging from $1,000 to almost $70,000, in the United States, depending on the type of school one chooses. There are many factors such as room and board, supplies, books, and the general cost of attendance. But public and private schools both have quite expensive college tuitions. “The average cost of tuition and fees for the 2018–2019 school year was $35,676 at private colleges, $9,716 for state residents at public colleges and $21,629 for out-of-state students at state schools, according to data reported to U.S. News in an annual survey.”

All over the United States there is a wide range of different schools, public and private, universities and colleges. There are many different choices for each student, but each come with a price of course. Private schools averaged in the 2017-2018 school year at about $34,740. Many schools such as the Ivy Leagues have very high tuitions: Columbia University is about $50,000, Harvard is about $45,000 and Yale is about $48,000. Overall, it is a large sum of money per year.

In addition, many of these schools do have financial aid which will give money to you depending on your family’s income per year. Columbia University meets “100% of demonstrated financial need for all first-years and transfers pursuing their first degree” (“Columbia Financial Aid and Education Financing”). However there are some other private schools that are not Ivy Leagues such as Notre Dame and New York University, but the cost is still high. In the 1980’s, private school tuition used to be about $20,000 increasing about $30,000 in the past 20 years. That is quite a raise in price which makes an even more difficult time choosing what school you want to go to.

Although private schools are very selective and very good schools, some students may choose to go to a public school. Public schools are a lot cheaper than private schools, due to the funding of the schools. Public schools get more funding from the government and since they have more students, they are able to bring down the tuition for students. But private schools are not funded by the government and they have less students causing the tuition to be higher, but it creates smaller classes which is helpful to have more one on one time with the teacher. Public school tuition averaged at $9,970 for state residents and $25,620 for out-of-state residents. Even though this is still a large amount of money, it is less expensive and allows for larger classes, which some students may prefer, and more students on campus. In the 1980’s, college tuition for a public school was about $9,000, increasing about another $10-15,000 over the past 20 years.

Overall, depending on the education you want, what type of school environment you want, etc. choosing a school is hard especially with such high prices. The overall increase of $10-$20,000 in tuition over the past 20 years also makes for a tough decision. This is a huge part in every student’s life; it’s the next step into the real world and making sure they have chosen the right school is hard, especially with cost being such a large part, but there is financial aid and other programs that can help families who can’t afford these high tuitions and help the student get the education they want.