skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Saturday, March 29, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

JD, Usha Vance visit Greenland as Trump administration eyes territory; Maine nurses, medical workers call for improved staffing ratios; Court orders WA to rewrite CAFO dairy operation permit regulations; MS aims to expand Fresh Start Act to cut recidivism.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The Dept. of Health and Human Services prepares to cut 10,000 more jobs. Election officials are unsure if a Trump executive order will be enacted, and Republicans in Congress say they aim to cut NPR and PBS funding.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural folks face significant clean air and water risks due to EPA cutbacks, a group of policymakers is working to expand rural health care via mobile clinics, and a new study maps Montana's news landscape.

Report: Costs Beyond Tuition Hold Older College Students Back

play audio
Play

Thursday, August 20, 2020   

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Students over age 25 - who make up one-third of the college population - have much higher living expenses, take longer to graduate and rack up more debt, according to a new report.

A new study from the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality finds students at four-year colleges pay two-and-a-half times more for living expenses than they do for tuition, and those at two-year colleges pay four times as much.

Brendan Williams, senior director of knowledge at 'uAspire,' a nonprofit organization that focuses on college affordability, said many schools are doing what they can to help.

"Colleges are opening up food pantries on campus, finding ways to subsidize housing," Williams said. "They're reducing those book costs. They're subsidizing transportation. There's a lot of things that colleges are doing to try and help with these indirect expenses."

The research found older students are much more likely to be married and have children to support. So, since they often have to work while going to school, it takes them longer to complete college, and they accumulate more debt in the process.

Williams noted the cost-of-attendance estimates typically found on college websites can be off by between $2,000 and $6,000 a year for older students.

"So, I think there needs to be a reexamination of cost of attendance, and really thinking of the best way to apply it to what students look like today," Williams said.

He added many older students also don't realize that it's possible to ask for additional financial aid to cover things like child care.

He encouraged all students to meet with the financial aid counselor at their school, and take full advantage of all programs available.

---

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Mississippi's three-year recidivism rate reached 40% in 2023, according to state task force data - among the highest in the United States. (Pixabay)

Social Issues

play sound

For thousands of Mississippians leaving prison each year, a single question looms large: Who will hire me? State lawmakers could remove some of the …


Health and Wellness

play sound

Rural communities in Missouri are bracing for a tough reality as they plan ahead for the possibility of federal cuts to programs such as Medicaid…

Environment

play sound

Groups in Pennsylvania are asking Congress to preserve federal clean-energy tax incentives. Concerned about the possible repeal of 30% energy tax …


Biosolids, also known as sewage sludge, were applied to farms in Johnson County as fertilizer to boost crop fertility. (zimmytws/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Sara Hashemi for Sentient.Broadcast version by Freda Ross for Texas News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaboration John…

Environment

play sound

West Virginians are more concerned about bird flu's effect on grocery costs rather than health implications, and Republican voters are more likely to …

According to 2024 DEA laboratory testing, five of 10 pills tested contain a potentially deadly dose of fentanyl. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

The federal HALT Fentanyl Act advancing through Congress would increase prison time for fentanyl traffickers. Kentuckians convicted on distribution …

Social Issues

play sound

Labor groups representing thousands of Minnesota state workers find themselves at serious odds with Gov. Tim Walz over his move this week to reduce …

Social Issues

play sound

Minnesota lawmakers this session are emphasizing new protocols to shield state agencies from fraud. A watchdog group says so far, it appears they're …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021