How are Students Responding to the Rising Cost of Higher Education?
As mentioned, the cost of tuition is one of the main reasons students consider PSU. However, due to the growing cost of higher education, a larger number of students rely on financial aid to cover tuition. A majority of entering students at PSU applied for financial aid, as reported in all three Entering Student Surveys. Moreover, the Entering Student Surveys show a slight rise in the percentage of new freshmen applying for financial aid from 1992 (59%) to 1995 (63%). There is a similar upward trend for new transfer students who applied for financial aid from 1992 (53%) to 1995 (65%). In addition to the growing percentage of PSU students applying for financial aid, the majority of entering students are employed in addition to attending school full-time. In 1995, 78% of students planned to work in addition to going to school. Students report intending to work from sixteen to twenty-five hours per week while in school (see Table 2).
