College: An Overview

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College. Many are considering it as their future life after high school. And, they are far from alone.

As of the 2022-23 school year just under 25 million people were enrolled in college nationwide. While for the same year just over 488 thousand students were enrolled in college in Colorado. (According to the NCES)

Image by The NCES

College has never been cheap, especially with the average cost now of $38,270 per year according to education data .org as of August of this year. A four year bachelor degree is on average about 153,080. But of course whenever anyone talks about cost, people mention scholarships or financial aid. I spoke with Mrs. Holley, who is an English teacher and who is also helping seniors apply for college, scholarships and for financial aid. in hopes of finding out more about the cost of college. “ I think college has always been expensive so either between financial aid or scholarships I think it has always been a need.” and even more so recently according to the Education Data initiative “The average cost of college tuition & fees rose 93.2% between AY05-06 and AY25-26; adjusted for inflation, tuition increased 17.4%” Of course that is not all comparing the rate for which the price of college is increasing vs inflation also looks rather grim with it increasing 41.7% faster according to the Education Data Initiative.

 As far as recommendations for programs from Mrs. Holly said “ Well every student regardless of need has to apply for the FAFSA. It's just this free online program that puts you into this portal so then the federal government decides who gets financial aid… its based on need but I believe everyone has to apply for it even if you don’t have the need because that's the only place to get federal aid” FAFSA stands for Free application for federal student aid and it works by determining in what you are eligible for weather that be grants loans or work based learning according to appliy.com. Their is another option CAFSA or the Colorado application for state financial aid. “CASFA is for students who are not eligible for Federal Student Aid, undocumented students or students from mixed status families or other situations who prefer not to share their contributors' personal data beyond Colorado higher education institutions. Students who complete a CASFA are applying for State and institutional aid only (NOT Federal Student Aid).”

But should neither work out their are always scholarships. But when looking for them “Is when the students have to do a lot of work and they have to research different scholarships.” according to Mrs. Holey and yes with around 1.7 million scholarships awarded each year worth more than 7.4 billion dollars in the US as of 2020 according to CNBC which is a very big number. Of course they don't have to do this alone with help from websites like “Xello is one, college board has some, there is a website called I think its just NOCO scholarships. Is another one and PSD puts out a packet of scholarships on December 1st you can find all of these online and for seniors the packet will be sent to the google classroom. “Whether it is called institutional grant aid, scholarships, or discounts, about 40 percent of the grant aid that helps undergraduate students pay the sticker price of college comes from the institutions in which they enroll.” According to the union institution , if you have any more questions and you want to learn more about financial aid, be sure to talk to Mrs. Holley about scholarships.

But those aren’t the only costs. In order to even apply for university you need to pay for the application fee and they aren't necessarily insignificant. At the Colorado school of mines the application fee is $50 and for more prestigious schools like Harvard it can go all the way up to $90 and it is not unique with schools like Cornell having an application fee of $85.

But of course it doesn't stop there. There are also course materials. These are books or ebooks and other such material required for class and they don't come cheap with Education Data reporting “The average postsecondary student spends between $1,212 annually for books and supplies as of the 2022-2023 academic year.”

 Of course you also need to pay for your meals while some colleges offer meal plans they usually have restrictions. For example CSU’s meal plan (which comes with room and board fees which are also separate costs) cover up to 19+ meals per week and go as low as 15 meals per week. It should be noted that their week is a seven day week ending Friday night and starting Saturday morning. But there is also the dorm rates also known as hall rates on CSU’s website they have all prices listed which range from $3,730 per semester to $6,545 per semester.

However it is not all doom and gloom their have been economic benefits that have been shown to going to college. According to the Social Security Administration men make $655k-900k more over their lifetimes than a high school graduate if they have completed a four year college and women make $450k to $620k more than high school graduates if they have attended and completed a four year college. And those numbers go up for graduate degrees with men with graduate degrees making 1.5 million more and women making 1.1 million more with graduate degrees.  This was in  2015 adjusting for inflation using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Calculator Men would make $907,992.83-$1,247,623.73 more than a high school graduate and women would make $623,811.87-$859,474.13 more than high school graduates with a four year college degree.

Image by the Social Security Administration

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If you are interested in college there are resources here at Poudre High School to help all grades like Mr. Harrison in the college career and military center. The college career and military center is in the front office and is where colleges set up when they visit the school. When mentioned during the morning announcement. He gave me an interview and when asked what resources we have here at Poudre he responded "coming in here to the college career and military center in this room specifically we can talk to you about university reps who might want to come visit with you if you have interest in specific colleges or universities. I can introduce you to dates for when we’re having our college fairs, then I can introduce you to other people and representatives for scholarships potentially. Our main scholarship packet which is only for PSD individuals within the district ,comes out in November or December and I usually do a large scale meeting for that so that all those interested as seniors can come and listen to that…We can also talk to you for Front Range and Amis as some of you have done concurrent enrolment classes. And that might be the next step going into that process. We can talk about transfer credits and things of that nature.” to say the least there are some lovely resources available to you in the college career and military center But is it worth it (generally)?

The College Career and Miliary center here at Poudre

“I would say without a lot of facts and statistics. When college people come in here, what they’re telling me, is their seeing is a high and a trough. And so right now we're starting to head towards a high for college, and more of a lower resurgence in like trade schools. So it also depends greatly on what you want to do when you get out of college. We have a fantastic manufacturing center right here at Poudre where you can complete your associate degree on hand with manufacturing dredges that can get you a job instantly. And if you're going to be happy with that then absolutely those are definitely opportunities that you should be exploring. There is Mrs. Mucsci who can hook you up with job coaching and shadowing. So I would say that ‘Is it for everybody absolutely not is it for some people absolutely’. The cost is really something that is going to have to be self explored.” 

When should you start preparing for college? “I think having a good idea of your college is fantastic the earlier you know. You can always reach out to reps early and get them interested in you. However, moving forward with a lot of the scholarship applications and things of that nature won’t happen until you're a little closer to graduation date. Most of those universities want final transcripts. Most of those universities want a completion date so really having cash in hand isn’t gonna until you're a little bit closer to that deadline”. But for those interested you can start even earlier while beginning to look at colleges or even start saving. Or looking at scholarships to help with the hefty cost.

Mr. Harrison

What can you do to prepare for college? First and foremost you can go to college fairs. There was one that was happening here at Poudre high school on the seventh of October 2025 from 6-7:30 pm. It was for students to look at out of state colleges that they may be interested in. You can find out about these types of events from Mr. Harrison as well as other sources.

For freshmen or sophomores you can also start right away “(With) small things like paying attention to when you can sign up for concurrent enrollment, getting enrolled and involved in Aims and Front Range. Credits that you can take now as a high schooler that will all transfer as far as general credits are concerned, are all things that are going to help you down the road when you start getting serious and you don't want to pay attention anymore. Because you've grown into a new step in your life where you want to start looking at careers and monetary investment, and instead of doing those things and have to retake those things later by taking those college credits seriously at a high school level from a very early standpoint you can put yourself on a great footing to succeed.” of course there is always Mrs. Musci, and the CTC (Career Tech Center) here at Poudre. But what is CTC? It is separate from Poudre but is housed in the same building and is for people who want to start a career right out of high school they have a multitude of opportunities down there as well. According to Mr. Harrison. 

He of course recommends maintaining a good grade point average and keeping up with your core classes.”(Because) those universities will offer scholarships just based on GPA just to get you to go to those universities so there is money on the table that can be had table for responsible kiddos who are willing to put the time and effort in now” but what is a good GPA (Grade Point Average) “I would preface that good is a harsh term I would say a competitive GPA an I think that it depends on what your looking at your GPA being competitive with. I see a lot of scholarships go to students that have a 3.5 GPA or above, however the spectrum for getting into a university varies quite a bit.” For example, a competitive GPA at CSU is a 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale. While for other schools it can vary quite drastically. According to Mr. Harrison. 

What classes should we look at for high school? “I would say GPA would obviously play a factor so know what your university is looking for GPA. Second the classes you can be looking for are general credit transfer classes so when your talking concurrent enrolment class you talking classes like composition 1 and 2 your talking about college algebra your talking about interpersonal communication your talking all kinds of different classes kind of that knock out your base curriculum as far that's concern you should be looking at classes where if you have the option can test out you can if your in AP and in IB those rigors will present themselves indifferent ways. So I would say anything that you can look at as fat as the general classes your teachers are teaching right now.” and he is not wrong at CSU you have courses you are required to take called the core curriculum. CSU is not unique with schools like Harvard having them as well. "Students are required to take one course in each of four perspectives: Aesthetics & Culture; Ethics & Civics; Histories, Societies, Individuals; as well as Science & Technology in Society.”

Of course College is not for everyone but it is for some of us. It can be incredibly fun and even have economic benefits in the long term, despite the huge upfront costs it is implied you will make it back even though they charge you large sums of money you can get a scholarship of financial aid. Either through FAFSA or FAFSA or even just having a high GPA. All of these can help on your journey to and through college.

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F.B. Brookings is a sophomore at Poudre High School. This is his first year in the Poudre Press. He is currently involved in many clubs at Poudre, including but not limited to  Model UN,  Mock Trial, and Math Club. In his spare time, he loves to read a good book, learn new things, and play with his cat, Ru.

Works Cited

the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “BLS inflation calculator.” Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm. Accessed 1 October 2025.

The Colorado Application for State Finical A id. “Colorado Application for State Financial Aid.” Colorado Department of Higher Education, https://cdhe.colorado.gov/colorado-application-for-state-financial-aid. Accessed 1 October 2025.

Colorado State University. “Domestic Freshman Admissions.” Admissions | Colorado State University, 2025, https://admissions.colostate.edu/apply/freshmen/. Accessed 1 October 2025.

Colorado State University. “Meal Plans – Housing & Dining Services.” CSU Housing and Dining Services, 2025, https://housing.colostate.edu/dining/meal-plans/. Accessed 1 October 2025.

Cornell Univeristy. “First-Year Applicants | Undergraduate Admissions.” Cornell Admissions, https://admissions.cornell.edu/how-to-apply/first-year-applicants. Accessed 1 October 2025.

Dickler, Jessica. “Student aid secret: Even high-income families can qualify.” Cnbc.com, 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/20/even-high-income-families-can-qualify-for-college-financial-aid.html. Accessed 1 10 2025.

Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Federal Student Aid: Home, https://studentaid.gov/. Accessed 1 October 2025.

Hanson, Melanie. “Average Cost of College [2025]: Yearly Tuition + Expenses.” Education Data Initiative, 29 August 2025, https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college. Accessed 1 October 2025.

Hanson, Melanie. “Average Cost of College Textbooks [2025]: Prices per Year.” Education Data Initiative, 12 October 2024, https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college-textbooks. Accessed 1 October 2025.

Harvard University. “Apply | Harvard.” Harvard College, 2025, https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/apply. Accessed 1 October 2025.

“Institutional Grant Aid - Urban Institute.” Understanding College Affordability, 2017, https://collegeaffordability.urban.org/financial-aid/institutional/. Accessed 1 October 2025.

Lucyk, Shilo. “Is FAFSA Money Free?” Appily.com, 3 September 2025, https://www.appily.com/guidance/articles/paying-for-college/does-FAFSA-money-need-to-be-repaid. Accessed 1 October 2025.

Social Security Administration. “Research Summary: Education and Lifetime Earnings.” Social Security, 2015, https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/research-summaries/education-earnings.html. Accessed 1 October 2025.