Statistics about college students:

$7,020: Average annual tuition at a four-year U.S. public college in the fall of 2009, a 6.5% jump from 2008.  The average cost at a private college is $26,273. 

These figures do not include costs for room and board.  Simply tuition

SOURCE:  Time Magazine - Nov. 2, 2009

42%: Percentage of college students who feel "down, depressed or hopeless."

SOURCE:  Recent AP/MTV survey.  May 2009

$47.3 billion: Amount students and families are expected to spend gearing up for college.

SOURCE:  National Retail Federation’s 2007 Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch. Data released August 14, 2007.

$956.93:  A household will spend a combined average of $956.93 on back-to-college merchandise as a student gets ready to start his/her freshmen year (up from last year’s $880.52) 

SOURCE:  National Retail Federation’s 2007 Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch. Data released August 14, 2007.

$59,408:  Average starting salary offered to bachelor’s degree candidates in petroleum engineering in 2007, among the highest of any field of study. At the other end of the spectrum were those majoring in the humanities, who were offered an average of $31,345.

Source: Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009, Table 287

$82,320:  Average annual 2006 earnings of workers 18 and older with an advanced degree. This compares with $20,873 for those without a high school diploma. In addition, those with a bachelor’s degree earned an average of $56,788 in 2006, while those with a high school diploma earned $31,071.

Source: Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007

$14,203:  Average tuition, room and board (for in-state students) at the nation’s four-year public colleges and universities for an entire academic year (2006-07). That is more than double the corresponding figure in 1990. 

Source: Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009, Table 28

$38,400:  Average tuition, room and board at the nation’s four-year private colleges and universities for one academic year (2006-07). That also is more than double the corresponding 1990 figure. 

Source: Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009, Table 282

69%:  Percentage of undergraduates enrolled in four-year colleges in October 2006. Of those enrolled in such schools, 80 percent attended full time.

Source: School Enrollment – Social and Economic Characteristics of Students: October 2006

46%:  Percentage of 18- and 19-year-olds enrolled in college in 2006.

Source: School Enrollment – Social and Economic Characteristics of Students: October 2006

56%:  Percentage of undergraduates who were women in October 2006.

Source: School Enrollment – Social and Economic Characteristics of Students: October 2006

5.6 years:  Average amount of time it takes people to complete bachelor’s degrees. It took 4.4 years to complete an associate’s degree.

Source: What It’s Worth: Field of Training and Economic Status in 2004

18.4 million:  The projected number of students enrolled in the nation’s colleges and universities this fall. This is up from 13.5 million 20 years ago.

Source: Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009, Table 211

19%:  Percentage of the population 65 and older in 2007 who had earned a bachelor’s degree or higher. 

Source: Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007 

28.2 million:  Number of women 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more education in 2007, more than double the number 20 years earlier. 

Source: Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007 

28%:  Percent of women 25 and older who had obtained a bachelor’s degree or more as of 2007. This rate was up 11 percentage points from 20 years earlier.

Source: Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007 

928,000: The projected number of bachelor’s degrees that will be awarded to women in the 2008-09 school year. Women are also projected to earn 391,000 master’s degrees during this period. Women would, therefore, earn 58 percent of the bachelor’s and 60 percent of the master’s degrees awarded during this school year. In addition, women would earn nearly 50 percent of first-professional degrees, such as law and medical. 

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Projections of Education Statistics to 2017

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