By CAIE KELLEY, New America Media
ORINDA,
Calif. ― As the nation braces itself for a potential slide off the fiscal
cliff, middle-class families across the country are increasingly staring down
the precipice of another, equally dizzying abyss: college tuition. With costs
rising in schools from California to Connecticut, parents in one Bay Area
suburb are looking for ways to keep from going over.
Most
are banking on scholastic or sports scholarships to do that.
Peter
Li and his wife Amy live in Orinda, Calif., a wealthy enclave about 30 miles
east of San Francisco. Despite the relative affluence of residents here,
families like the Lis were not totally immune to the recent recession.
“We
don’t have the resources to set aside money for our kids,” explains Amy Li, who
moved to the Bay Area with her husband 16 years ago from their native Hong
Kong. Since 2008, the family has seen its income fall steadily. Peter Li, a
contractor, says orders have shrunk in recent years, while his wife, an
accountant, has seen annual bonuses dry up, crimping their budget.
That’s
why the pair is hoping their children’s academic achievements will help fund
their college careers. “Both our children have strong GPAs, extracurriculars,
and volunteer service,” the mother explains, “so we are hoping that they will
qualify for academic scholarships and need-based financial aid when the time
comes.”
The
Lis say they’d like their two sons ― a freshman and junior in high school ― to
attend a school within the UC system, “like UC Berkeley or UCLA,” where the
estimated average annual cost per student, including living expenses, is around
$30,000, more than three times what families paid 10 years ago. But with
Orinda’s median household income topping $150,000, the Lis’ sons will likely
not qualify for state or federal loans.
Still,
rising costs haven’t dampened their enthusiasm for higher education. “Neither
my wife nor I ever went to college, and I do believe the lack of higher
education has hampered my adult life,” says Peter Li. “It is important to us
that both of our kids go to school, even if paying for it will not be easy.”
That
attitude puts the Lis and their neighbors squarely at odds with a growing
number of middle-class families across the country.
According
to a recent study, some 20 percent of American families earning between $50,000
and $250,000 a year say that college is no longer a worthwhile investment. Many
cite weak job numbers and mounting post-graduation debt.
For
those who do have kids in college, about three-quarters rely on some type of
financial aid, whether in the form of grants, scholarships or loans. In 2011,
more than 21 million families filled out the Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA), up 49 percent from the year before. Over the past five
years, total education borrowing ― including federal and non-federal student
and parent loans ― climbed 24 percent to $113 billion in 2011-12, according to
a report from the nonprofit College Board.
Average
student-loan debt for 2011, meanwhile, jumped 5 percent from the year before to
$26,500. Much of that has fallen on parents.
The
latest government data shows that 11 percent of student loans are delinquent,
up nearly 9 percent from a year ago.
“Of
course I’m concerned about the cost of college and student-loan debt,” says
Margaret Rass, an unemployed single mother who lost her job last year due to
company-wide downsizing. While she’s managed to put away about $30,000 in a
college-savings plan, she is still hoping for some form of government aid to
ensure her daughter attains her “educational dreams.”
Rass
says she is convinced college will allow her daughter, a senior in high school,
to “be better off than I am. Many, many people go to college these days, and I
don’t want her future to suffer because we don’t have the means to pay.”
For
others, meeting their children’s tuition expenses could come not through the
classroom, but on the field.
Another
family that asked that their last name not be used hasn’t seen a stable income
since the father lost his job as a financial banker two years ago. Though his
previous salary would have been enough to cover tuition for the family’s three
children, both parents are hoping their eldest son’s academic and athletic
prowess will secure him the funding he needs.
“I’m
hoping he’ll be able receive some scholarships,” says Dana, the mother of a
16-year old high school junior who currently plays three varsity-level sports
and has a 4.6 weighted GPA. “Borrowing money and graduating in debt is not
ideal,” she adds, “but we do want [our son] to attend a university and we will
try to finance it as best we can.”
Her
eldest son is hoping to be recruited by Stanford, Dartmouth, UC Berkeley, and
Columbia, though where he eventually applies will depend on which school offers
him the best deal. The National Collegiate Athletic Association member schools award
about $1 billion in athletic scholarships each year to around 126,000
undergraduate athletes.
Like
their neighbors, the family’s commitment to providing higher education for
their children is fueled in large part by concerns about financial and job
security. But it also comes from a deeper, traditionally American view of
college, one that seems to be increasingly on the wane.
“[My
husband] and I met at college and we believe the entire experience is an
important one,” says Dana. “We wouldn’t want him to miss out on that four-year
opportunity.
