Coping With the Cost of College | OAS Episode 181

The cost of college poses a major challenge to families. The average net price of attending a public four-year institution, including living expenses, is nearly $20,000 a year. There are more than 40 million students who took out loans to pay for college and they owe $1.7 trillion.

For this episode, we sat down we three people who have given a lot of thought to this topic: Heather Carter, a former Arizona legislator who now serves as executive director of Greater Phoenix Leadership; Kate Hoffman, the CEO and founder of Earn to Learn; and Andrew Smalley, an education policy expert with NCSL.

Smalley discussed the strategies for saving for college and avoiding burdensome student loan debt, particularly 529 plans that are a primary vehicle for families to save.

Carter and Hoffman talked about how Earn to Learn, an Arizona-based program aimed at helping students afford and complete college, has helped thousands of students in their state and efforts to turn it into a nationwide program.