College Prices up and up!

By KIMBERLY HEFLING AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Time to stock up on the ramen noodles. The average cost of attending college crept up again this year, the College Board said Thursday. The average sticker price, with room and board included, for undergraduate students attending a four-year college or university in their home state was $18,943. Out-of-state students at those schools paid, on average, $32,762. At two-year public schools, in-state students paid an average $11,052. The cost to attend a private, four-year nonprofit college: $42,419, on average, including housing and meal plan. For-profit schools cost about $15,230, but housing figures weren't available. Books and transportation costs can add more than $2,000 to the cost of attending college, and that rises even more for commuters. The highest rate of increase of 3.7 percent was among private, nonprofit colleges. And even though the increases across higher education outpaced inflation, the rates of increase were lower than those students saw five, 10 or 30 years ago, the College Board said. When adjusted for inflation, students are paying more than triple what students paid 30 years ago to attend a public, four-year institution and about 2.5 times more to attend a private nonprofit or two-year public one. "The price increases are actually quite moderate this year, but still, what people are paying, and this is before financial aid, is the accumulation of many years of price increases," said Sandy Baum, a co-author of the nonprofit College Board's annual college pricing report. "So, if the price goes up just a little bit this year, people aren't really going to breathe a sigh of relief because the price is already high from their perspective." Baum said during tough economic times, college costs tend to go up because public institutions receive less in state dollars and private ones see a decrease in endowments and in giving. Other contributing factors are wide ranging from the increasing costs of technology to health insurance for university employees. Only the wealthiest of Americans are seeing their incomes rise, so most students feel the tuition upticks more, Baum said. The number of full--time undergraduate students increased by 16 percent in the three years leading up to fall 2010 to 13.7 million, but then declined to 13 million in fall 2013. The number of students taking out student loans and the amount taken out, on average, by students has been declining, the College Board said. It said about 60 percent of students who earned a bachelor's degree in 2012-2013 from public or private, nonprofit schools from which they began their studies graduated with debt, borrowing an average of $27,300. The breakdown in pricing: -Sticker prices, on average, for in-state tuition and fees at public four-year schools increased to $9,139 this school year - a 2.9 percent increase over the 2013-2014 school year. The average out-of-state price tag was $22,958, an increase of 3.3 percent increase. Room and board was $9,804. -Public two-year schools had a $3,347 published price on average for tuition and fees- an increase of 3.3 percent. Room and board was $7,705. -Tuition and fees at private, nonprofit schools rose 3.7 percent to an average of $31,231. Room and board was $11,188. -For-profit schools saw a 1.3 percent increase in tuition and fees. Published prices don't necessarily reflect what students actually pay because they don't include grant dollars provided by institutions or government aid such as Pell Grants, the GI Bill and tax credits. This school year, full-time students received an average of about $6,110 in aid at public four-year schools, $5,090 at public two-year ones, and $18,870 at private colleges. The average in-state prices at four-year schools ranged from $4,646 in Wyoming to $14,712 in New Hampshire. For out-of-state students, the most affordable tuition of $9,910 was in South Dakota. On the other end, the most expensive was $34,331 in Vermont. _____ Online: College Board: http://www.collegeboard.org _____ Follow Kimberly Hefling on Twitter: http://twitter.com/khefling Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Just a thought on how great it would be to have helicopter parents and Church

http://www.wbay.com/story/27371230/2014/11/12/target-2-helicopter-parents-on-the-rise-in-youth-sports We've heard the stories and seen the video multiple times all over the country of parents getting into brawls with other parents, and even coaches, at their kids' sports events Just last month near Seattle at a junior league football game for nine and ten year olds, parents from opposite sides-- start arguing-- and then start of full on brawl. The stands emptied and the melee ensued. All the while a child was lying on the field with a broken arm. Target 2 dug into a new study done at St. Norbert College that shows parents behavior is hurting high school sports. We found it's leading more and more coaches to step away from the game It's an electric atmosphere only high school sports can create for student athletes around Wisconsin. But sometimes proud and passionate moms and dads cross the line. "Being in broadcasting all the years I was in broadcasting, and at several sporting events I witnessed a lot of things, I saw parents go after coaches, I remember being at one high school game where I saw a parent be ejected by a game official," said St. Norbert College Director of Media Relations Mike Counter. "I actually had some friends who actually just quit coaching because it was too much pressure and too much stress." To assist with his master's thesis on parental involvement in high school athletics, Counter turned to the Strategic Research Institute at St. Norbert College. Researchers say not only did the issue of helicopter parents become apparent, but it's a problem in all sports in schools big and small. "Small school districts with not large school systems, they're experiencing the same thing as those larger schools districts are with many more students and that was a bit of a surprise, we really though going in that might be more of a problem in some of the larger school districts," said St. Norbert College Strategic Research Institute Executive Director Dave Wegge. "How many times do we hear about the little league dad that runs out on the field and pounds this 17 year old umpire, or the soccer mom that misbehaves." said St. Norbert College Dean of Business and Economics Kevin Quinn. "It's nice to have some systematic study about things that we all know." Considered a leading expert on sports and society, Quinn says helicopter parenting has become a fact of life and goes beyond sports. "What we see here in sports is just a mirror reflection of what's happening everywhere else and it looks to me that coaches and AD's don't like it any more or less than anybody else who deals with children and their parents." said Quinn. "It's Dance Moms, it's Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and all this pageant stuff, I mean this is the same thing that's happening here." Counter says his research points to a couple of main reasons why helicopter parents are a growing problem. The first is unrealistic expectations. "There's so much media attention with athletics and sports and there's social media with twitter and facebook, you hear about the big plays, you see videos of high school athletes, there's so much out there, I think parents get excited and their son or daughter may get some press clippings and get some attention and I think they start seeing, hey maybe there's potential there, but actually when you look at the statistics and the data, there are 7 million high school athletes that participate, only 2-percent of those get full ride scholarships, 2-percent," said Counter. The study also found social media is fueling the fire as it allows upset parents to immediately fire off text messages or emails and then hide behind them.

Come join us for the Packer vs Eagles game at 3:25 on November 16th. Please bring $2.00 for pizza and $1.00 for soda from the machine! We will provide the snacks! Friends welcome to come! NYG kids will sell candy in the neighborhood at 3:00 p.m. to promote Thrivent caring communities.