[ti:What Does It Cost?]
[ar: Steve Ember]
[al:Education Report]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English 
[00:03.00]Education Report.
[00:04.99]Today we answer a question 
[00:07.17]from a listener in Colombia. 
[00:09.78]John Anderson wants to know 
[00:12.27]the costs of undergraduate 
[00:14.76]and graduate study in the United States.
[00:18.82]Well, the first thing to know 
[00:21.24]is that prices are different 
[00:23.61]from school to school. 
[00:25.41]Private colleges and 
[00:27.59]universities generally 
[00:29.45]cost more than public ones.
[00:31.76]Another thing to keep in mind 
[00:34.80]is that not all students
[00:37.10]pay a school's "published price." 
[00:40.53]Financial aid and scholarships 
[00:43.70]may reduce the cost. 
[00:45.87]Here are a few numbers 
[00:47.55]for this school year 
[00:49.42]from the College Board organization.
[00:52.72]The average published price 
[00:54.89]for undergraduate study 
[00:57.07]at a four-year public college 
[00:59.44]was about seven thousand dollars. 
[01:02.48]That was for students from "in state." 
[01:06.15]Students from other states
[01:08.58]as well as international students 
[01:11.56]paid an average of more than 
[01:13.86]eighteen thousand dollars.
[01:16.29]This is the bad news
[01:18.41]-- international students 
[01:20.33]often have to pay the highest prices.
[01:24.07]And these averages were only 
[01:26.18]for tuition and fees. Food, housing, 
[01:30.47]books and supplies can 
[01:33.09]add ten to twelve thousand dollars a year.
[01:37.56]The College Board says 
[01:39.49]the average tuition at a private college 
[01:42.79]was about twenty-six thousand dollars.
[01:46.02]Many students save money 
[01:48.39]by starting their education 
[01:50.57]at a two-year public college, 
[01:53.74]also known as a community college. 
[01:56.91]The average tuition this year was 
[02:00.39]about two thousand five hundred dollars.
[02:03.01]A few American colleges 
[02:05.80]provide a free education,
[02:08.29]including the military 
[02:10.72]and Merchant Marine academies. 
[02:13.77]They accept some foreign students.
[02:17.06]Berea College is a small Christian school 
[02:21.42]in Berea, Kentucky, that pays 
[02:24.03]all first-year costs
[02:26.27]for its foreign students. 
[02:28.13]But they are expected to pay 
[02:30.75]one thousand dollars a year after that.
[02:34.42]Summer jobs are provided 
[02:36.91]to help meet this cost.
[02:39.02]Costs for graduate study
[02:42.19] in the United States also 
[02:44.43]differ from school to school, 
[02:46.73]and even from program to program. 
[02:50.22]Here too, public universities 
[02:53.08]charge more for out-of-state tuition.
[02:56.81]For example, at the University of Kentucky, 
[03:00.98]out-of-state graduate tuition averaged 
[03:05.08]about eighteen thousand dollars this year. 
[03:08.50]In-state was about nine thousand.
[03:12.05]American students often have 
[03:15.28]to take out loans to help 
[03:17.28]pay for their education. 
[03:19.39]President Obama recently 
[03:21.82]signed into law a bill that changes 
[03:25.11]the student loan system. 
[03:27.60]We'll have more on that next week.
[03:31.08]And international students 
[03:34.44]can learn much more about studying 
[03:37.05]in the United States on our Web site. 
[03:40.35]Look for the Foreign 
[03:41.97]Student Series at 51voa.com.
[03:47.57]And that's the VOA Special English 
[03:50.80]Education Report, 
[03:52.54]written by Nancy Steinbach. 
[03:54.66]I'm Steve Ember.