A Wellesley College professor and economist, Phillip Levine, created a website called "MyinTuition". Apparently, it is to determine the true cost of college education. Read on to find out more.
According to WBUR, Levine says that about three-fourths of students pay within $5,000 if what MyinTuition estimates. Moreover, he admitted that accuracy is higher for lower-income students. Levine hopes that more people would understand and realize that the sticker price of schools is not the true cost of college.
To better illustrate, the average published price for tuition fees and housing at a private four-year college in America is $45,000. As of now, MyinTuition has worked well in the 15 colleges that incorporated in on their websites.
At some point, though, elite colleges in Massachusetts offer more. For example, Amherst and Wellesley colleges give a published cost of about $69,000 a year. Meanwhile, at Williams College, it is around $68,000. In addition, Boston College offers education for $71,000.
However, note that all of those are just sticker prices. The real cost of college is usually less. Figuring out the actual price of education perplexed Levine. While most colleges have calculators on their websites, they require students to pull out their tax forms.
Levine noted that "something like 90 percent" of families in the United States would qualify for financial aid. This, eventually, will bring their price down below the $70,000 that they typically hear. Levine added that most people would not be expected to pay that amount.
He also could not figure out how much he was going to have to pay for college for his kids, which he thought was a little bit odd. Levine then realized that it seems like there should be a centralized system. In it, if people want to figure out the real cost of education would have a definite answer.
