Many families consider the cost of sending their kids to college to be a crushing financial burden—and it is not hard to see why.  According to the Education Data Initiative, the average cost of attending a 4-year in-state institution is now up to $27,146 per year.  

Attending a private nonprofit college costs an average of $56,628, all-in—but that can be misleading.  Private college students receive an average federal grant of just over $5,000.  Moreover, a recent study found that tuition discounting rates are at all all-time high; the average tuition discount last year was 56.3% for full-time undergraduates at private colleges. 

Add up the two, and the cost of a private college education is, for many students, comparable to the cost of attending a state institution: around $30,000 a year.

That is still kind of crushing, right?  Maybe not, if the cost is put into context.  According to the USDA Expenditures on Children by Families report, when you add up food, clothing and other basic living expenses, the average teenage child living at home (pre-college, in other words) will cost the family roughly $17,000 a year—and the cost frequently exceeds $20,000 for the higher-income families that expect to send their children to college.

Based on the simple math, the college experience will cost a family an additional $10,000 to $13,000 a year, if the family does a careful job of bargain shopping and is savvy about grants and loans.  

The difference obviously varies tremendously depending on the college and how attractive the student will be to the chosen learning institution.  That being said, it is possible that many families are scared away from getting their children a college education by the raw numbers that are published in the consumer press, without realizing how much they are paying already.

This article was written by an independent writer for Brewster Financial Planning LLC and is not intended as individualized legal or investment advice