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NEW YORK, Sept 17, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ --
Bankrate, Inc. (Nasdaq: RATE) - today announced that according to a national poll commissioned by Bankrate, college costs are soaring, with the average tuition at a public four-year university increasing more than 35 percent in the last five years. Furthermore, 47 Percent of American parents surveyed cannot afford to put their children through college.
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As college degrees become the rule rather than the exception, the burden on parents to fund a child's education continues to grow. Regardless of income levels, parents are facing a growing college tuition crunch that affects their financial future from savings to retirement.
Bankrate.com tackles the issues of college financing with the latest chapter on Financial Literacy. To view Bankrate's Financial Literacy 2007 - Guide to Maximizing Your College Fund, and poll results, go to http://www.bankrate.com/financialliteracy.
Some key findings of the poll include:
-- Eighty six percent of parents expect their children to go to college
-- Seventy eight percent of parents polled said they are willing to
sacrifice financially to put their kids through college.
-- Thirty nine percent of parents said they expect to take a second job to
pay for their children's college education
-- Seventy six percent of parents have at least one financial concern that
is higher than putting their kids through college
"The findings of our poll show that the great majority of parents want their children to go to college and are willing to sacrifice to make it happen," said Ellen Cannon, managing editor of Bankrate.com. "From advice on saving strategies to guidance on 529 plans, Bankrate's college financing offering will help them through this process," Ms. Cannon added.
This national random-digit-dialed phone study of 1,011 adults 18 or older was conducted for Bankrate by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media. The surveys were conducted from August 25 through 26, 2007. The sample was weighted by demographic factors including age, gender, race, education and census region to ensure reliable and accurate representation of adults in U.S. households. A total of 280 interviews were completed among parents of children under the age of 18, 153 mothers and 127 fathers. The margin of error for this study is +/- 6 percentage points and is higher for subgroups.
The August Financial Literacy offering includes:
Online Poll
Can you afford college?
What are you sacrificing in order to help child go to college?
Articles
Keys to financing college
How to pay for college: the loan route
How to pay for college: the savings route 25 can't-miss college funding
tips
Make it a family affair: Getting the kids to share the cost of college
Go to school for free: scholarships and grants
Money Makeover
Advice for family struggling with saving for college and retirement.
What should they do?
Interviews
Tamara Draut - Director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos;
Author of "Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead"
Joe Hurley - Bankrate's College Money Guru and founder of
savingforcollege.com
Celebrity interviews: Author Nicholas Sparks, Comedian Al Franken, and
ESPN's Mike Greenberg
Tools & Resources
-- Glossary of college funding terms
-- Statistics from the National Association of Colleges and Employers on
salaries for college grads
-- Calculators:
-- How much should you save for college?
-- How much do I need to save for my child's education?
-- 529 plan estimator
-- How much financial aid can you expect?
-- Get the FAFSA form
-- Compare student loans rates
Cheryl Allebrand, senior reporter, and Greg McBride, CFA are available for interviews or as expert guests.
About Bankrate
Bankrate, Inc. (Nasdaq: RATE) ("Bankrate") owns and operates Bankrate.com, a leading Internet consumer banking marketplace. Bankrate.com is a destination site of personal finance channels, including banking, investing, taxes, debt management and college finance. Bankrate is the leading aggregator of more than 300 financial products, including mortgages, credit cards, new and used auto loans, money market accounts and CDs, checking and ATM fees, home equity loans and online banking fees. Bankrate reviews more than 4,800 financial institutions in 575 markets in 50 states. In 2006, Bankrate.com had nearly 53 million unique visitors. Bankrate provides financial applications and information to a network of more than 75 partners, including Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), America Online (NYSE: TWX), The Wall Street Journal (NYSE: DJ) and The New York Times (NYSE: NYT). Bankrate's information is also distributed through more than 400 national and state publications. In addition to Bankrate.com, Bankrate also owns and operates Bankrate Select, an Internet lead aggregator, Mortgage-calc.com, which provides consumers with financial calculators, and Mortgage Market Information Services, Inc. and Interest.com, Inc., each of which publishes mortgage guides and financial rates and information.
For more information contact:
Kristin Arnold
Communications Coordinator
(561) 630-2400 x.11229
karnold@bankrate.com
NOTE TO EDITORS: The information contained in this release is available for print or broadcast with attribution to Bankrate.com
SOURCE Bankrate, Inc.
http://www.bankrate.com/
Copyright (C) 2007 PR Newswire. All rights reserved
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