• College tuition and student-loan debt are higher than ever.
• College is expensive for many reasons, including a surge in demand, an increase in financial aid, a lack of state funding, a need for more faculty members and money to pay them, and ballooning student services.
• The cost of college has made a degree less advantageous than it was 10 years ago, one expert said. 

Josh Kirdy knows how to hustle.

When he's not working full time as an assistant store manager at Universal Orlando, the 26-year-old is on the prowl for side work, landing stints walking dogs and putting in part-time hours at a local mall retailer.

He developed this juggling act to put extra payments toward his $37,000 student-loan debt.

"I'm happy with my life today and with the education I received, but it's unfortunate that I'll be paying for it for another seven years at least," Kirdy, who attended a four-year public university, told Business Insider. He's set to pay roughly $300 a month in student-loan repayments until he's 35.

"There are many factors behind the cost of college, and some people have stressed one or another," Richard Vedder, an author and distinguished professor of economics emeritus at Ohio University, told Business Insider.

But the ultimate driver of cost, Vedder said, is the sheer number of people vying for a college education. Higher enrollment has brought an expansion of financial-aid programs, a need to increase budgets for faculty pay and on-campus student services, and a decline in financial support from state governments.

College tuition has more than doubled since the 1980s

Kirdy is just one of the more than 44 million Americans with student-loan debt and contributing to a whopping national total of $1.5 trillion, according to Student Loan Hero. The average student debt per graduate who took out loans is higher than ever, at $17,126, Business Insider reported in November.

These stats are especially troubling considering their effects on people's long-term goals. Millennials are facing unique financial struggles previous generations weren't, like having to save longer for increased housing costs, something that hasn't been helped by the burden of student-loan debt.

"I feel like buying a house is a total pipe dream at this point in my life, but I'm tightening my belt as much as possible to save for a down payment right now," a water-resources engineer who graduated from a public university with roughly $25,000 in debt told Business Insider.

Four years later, she owes just under $19,000. Her $300 payments are set on autopay, which reduces her interest by 2.5% a month. It's more than her $260 income-driven payment plan requires, but she'll pay it down quicker this way.

"Thankfully, I have USAA, who has a great first-time-homebuyer program, so I only need a 3% down payment to get started," she said. "But without that, I would be trapped in a rent cycle until a second income magically appears in my life."

Boone Porcher, who owes $32,645 after five years at a public university, started paying double his minimum payment two years after graduating so he could pay off his debt in five years.

"I started to think more about their impact when evaluating my long-term planning, and I made the decision that I wanted the debt gone entirely ASAP," Porcher, a 26-year-old supply-chain consultant, told Business Insider. "Personally, I don't feel comfortable taking a loan on a house while having student loans."

A recent Student Loan Hero report found that while wages have increased by 67% since 1970, college tuition has increased at a faster rate, continuing to deliver a fair amount of sticker shock.

Roxy Novo told Business Insider her $60,000 student-loan debt from attending a private college had slowed down her life plans. The 22-year-old commutes two hours every day from New Jersey to her job as a studio artist fellow in New York City because her $500 monthly loan payment is equivalent to a portion of what it would cost to rent an apartment in the city, she said.

"I definitely cannot consider moving closer until I get a higher-paying job and get a good chunk of my debt paid," Novo said. "I'm trying to do the responsible thing and eliminate loans before considering any expensive, fun things, but it can be really hard when your friends are out traveling the world and moving to the city and you're swimming in debt."

College tuition was more affordable for older generations, Student Loan Hero reported, citing figures from the College Board: From the late 1980s to now, the cost of an undergraduate degree has risen by 213% at public schools and 129% at private schools, adjusting for inflation.

From the 2016-17 to the 2017-18 school year, the average cost of tuition and fees increased by more than 3% at private and public colleges, according to the College Board's "Trends in College Pricing 2017" report. At a four-year nonprofit private institution, tuition and room and board is $46,950, on average. Four-year public colleges charge an average of $20,770 a year for tuition, fees, and room and board. For out-of-state students, the total goes up to $36,420.

And then there are costs beyond tuition, like living expenses.

"One of the main reasons why I accrued so much debt was because my parents didn't save any money for me to go to college and they couldn't afford to contribute to the cause, so I used student loans not only to pay tuition but also to cover living expenses that my part-time job, which paid $8 per hour, couldn't cover," Kirdy said.

Everyone wants to go to college

"The demand for higher education has risen dramatically since 1985," Vedder said. "Once demand goes up and nothing else happens, that will raise prices."

According to the Department of Education, US colleges expected a total of 20.4 million students in fall 2017, about 5.1 million more than in fall 2000.

"The rewards for college have expanded and grown from 1985 to a little after 2000 and sort of leveled off in the past decade," Vedder said.

The increase in the student population indicates that the advantages college offers outweigh its overwhelming costs.

"There's a fear of failure if you didn't have a postsecondary education," Vedder said.

And yet, he said, the "advantage of a degree today is less than it was 10 years ago, because of the rising cost."

"The return on investment has fallen," he added, "and 40% of kids don't graduate within six years."

Still, it's a vicious cycle of supply and demand. The more students who want to attend college, the more the cost of college increases, and the more students borrow money.

From 2000 to 2012, the percentage of students who took out student loans jumped to 60% from about 50%, according to a report by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The report also found that they began borrowing more money too — the median cumulative loan amount rose to $20,400 from $16,500 in that time.

Theories suggest financial aid causes tuition increases

More student borrowers might partly explain why government financial-aid programs have grown enormously — but that's also causing tuition increases, according to Vedder.

In 1970, financial-aid programs "were almost nonexistent," he said. "Generally, middle-income people didn't get money from the federal government; the large majority of students did not."

In 1978, Congress passed a bill known as the Middle Income Student Assistance Act. This made all undergraduates regardless of income class eligible for subsidized loans and middle-income students eligible for Pell Grants, according to NASPA, Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. More and more students started applying for financial aid, Vedder said.

"Knowing that students will get this financial-aid money, the university raises fees and takes advantage to capture that themselves," Vedder explained, referring to an idea known as the Bennett hypothesis.

Named for a former education secretary who believed that more government aid for students led directly to college cost increases, the hypothesis is an ongoing topic of political debate. But it has some vertical support in Vedder's eyes. Citing a statistic from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Vedder said that for every new dollar of federal student aid, tuition is raised by 65 cents.

Though tuition rose in 1978, so did people's incomes, making the burden of college less than it was in the 1940s, Vedder explained. But between 1978 and 2015, the burden of college began to rise again as tuition fees doubled and economic growth slowed.

State funding can't keep up with enrollment

Terry Hartle, a senior vice president of the American Council on Education, boils down the increasing cost of college to this: Many state governments have cut operating support for higher education, for at least a generation, and let colleges replace the lost revenue with tuition hikes.

"States provide less, and students and parents pay more," Hartle told Business Insider. "Studies have shown that when state support is level or increasing, tuition is flat. But when state support declines, tuition goes up. Roughly 80% of America's students attend public colleges, so it's not an exaggeration to say that the biggest determinate of the price they will pay for their education is the budgetary decisions made by state governments."

The College Board's report underscores Hartle's theory. It found that prices at public colleges and universities rise faster when government funding per student sees little growth or is slowing down. In the 2015-16 school year, appropriations — money given to a school by the government — per full-time enrolled student were 11% lower than 10 years before, when adjusted for inflation.

"For public institutions, state appropriations make up a significant portion of the college's revenue, and in recent years, the state appropriations have not been able to keep pace with enrollment," Jennifer Ma, a senior policy research scientist at the College Board, told Business Insider.

Vedder, however, doesn't think state funding cuts are the main culprit, at least at private schools.

"The total number of state dollars has gone up a little, but enrollments have risen dramatically, so on a per-student basis they're getting less money," he said. "It's a factor but not dominant, because private schools don't get money from the state."

Colleges need to pay more professors

Just as it costs money to learn, it costs money to pay teachers. Higher education is a labor-intensive industry, and productivity gains come slowly, Hartle said.

"The primary mechanism for delivering higher education at most institutions are highly educated people," he said. "Acquiring and recruiting highly educated faculty and staff costs money, especially in jobs with significant demand outside academia."

Hartle said the sorts of things that could lower these costs — such as larger classes, more adjunct faculty and fewer full-time professors, shorter hours, and fewer books in the library — were immensely unpopular with students, parents, and the public.

"Colleges spend much of their money on staff and compensation, so they have been experiencing an increasing cost of health insurance and other benefits," Ma said, adding that while university tuition allocations vary by institution, most use a large percentage of tuition to pay professors' salaries.

Vedder believes the percentage of university budgets used for instruction has fallen over the past 50 years.

"A typical university around 1970 would have allocated 40% directly for instruction, mostly professor salaries," he said. "Nowadays, it's more like 30%."

This decline in money for teachers and classes, in addition to state funding cuts, may help explain why the number of part-time faculty members has increased over time, to about 51% of total faculty in 2011 from 30% in 1975, according to research compiled by the American Association of University Professors.

With more part-time faculty members, universities can dole out lower wages and benefits, saving money for noninstructional full-time roles and a smaller group of tenured faculty, whom they can try to attract with higher salaries.

Student services, like counseling and healthcare, are growing

Many of these noninstructional roles are for student services, another increasing cost in campus budgets. Services such as academic support, personal counseling, and healthcare have been on the rise, Hartle said.

"These services are always added because of student needs, and most schools, once they begin to offer them, are very reluctant to take them away," he said, adding that there's also been a reallocation from instruction to administration expenses — known as institutional support — and research.

Vedder says there has been an explosion in the number of non-teaching personnel on campus, with several administrators at top universities making six-figure salaries with fringe benefits and secretarial support. He said about two-thirds of university budgets had nothing to do with teaching but instead go toward things like advocates, dormitories, and facilities.

Is the cost of college worth it?

The irony in the demand for a degree is palpable — by contributing to an increase in tuition, it has perhaps also made the college degree less advantageous over time.

To illustrate the diminishing value of a college degree, Vedder cited figures from the New York Fed, saying that one-third of college graduates are underemployed and 13% are in a low-paying job.

So is the cost of college worth it? It depends who you ask and how you measure the value of a degree.

"Honestly, I don't have a lot of job satisfaction, and I don't plan on being an engineer for the rest of my life," the water-resources engineer said. "In terms of getting me a job that pays well, maybe ... In terms of overall happiness, probably not."

Novo said loans were her only option for her first-choice school. A few schools offered scholarship money, but she said she felt they wouldn't help her reach her goals.

"The debt is definitely worth it," she said. "I picked my college with the hope that it would get me my first job and that it would be in my field and in NYC. I happily have a job with all those requests."

For Porcher, the regret isn't obtaining a college degree, but the lack of planning that put him over $32,000 in debt.

"Looking back, I wish I had worked for a year or two and saved up, or did half college, half work," he said. "But my job now wouldn't be possible without my degree. I'm actually the highest-ranking person without a master's or Ph.D. If I didn't have a good job, this would be an enormous burden."

SEE ALSO: The story of an orthodontist making 6 figures with $1 million in student-loan debt shows why doctors and lawyers are no longer the richest people you know

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• Student loan debt is higher than ever, with a national total of $1.5 trillion, according to Student Loan Hero.
• College graduates should think wisely when it comes deciding where to live after college — location can play a huge factor in your ability to pay off student debt.
• According to a new WalletHub ranking, Utah is the best place to pay off debt, while South Dakota is the worst.

College is more expensive than it's ever been.

Student loan debt is at an all-time high, with a national total of $1.5 trillion, according to Student Loan Hero. And the average student debt per graduate who took out loans is higher than ever at $17,126, Business Insider previously reported.

That said, it's important for graduates to think wisely when it comes deciding where to live after college — location matters when you have student loans to repay.

WalletHub recently calculated the best and worst states for paying off student debt using data from a variety of sources, including the US Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics. To determine this list, they compared two factors — "student loan indebtedness" and "grant and student work opportunities"— across each state, plus Washington, DC, among the population aged 25 to 34.

Each factor was determined using several weighted metrics that measured indebtedness and earning opportunities. WalletHub then found each state's weighted average across all metrics to determine its overall score and ranking. Read the full methodology on WalletHub.

According to WalletHub's research, "student-loan borrowers generally fare better in strong-economy states with low college-debt-to-income ratios." Utah is the best place to pay off debt, while South Dakota is the worst.

Below, see how each state ranks for paying back student debt, ordered from best to worst. 

SEE ALSO: College is more expensive than it's ever been, and the 5 reasons why suggest it's only going to get worse

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51. Utah

Average student debt: $19,975

Student loan debt rank: 51

Grant and student work opportunities rank: 29

50. Hawaii

Average student debt: $26,092

Student loan debt rank: 50

Grant and student work opportunities rank: 46

49. Wyoming

Average student debt: $25,378

Student loan debt rank: 49

Grant and student work opportunities rank: 33

• New York University School of Medicine announced on Thursday that it would cover full tuition for both its current and future medical students. 
• This makes them one of the first top 10–ranked medical school in the nation to do so.
• The coverage amounts to $55,018 per year, per student. It took NYU 11 years to raise enough funding to make the effort possible. 

New York University said Thursday that it will cover tuition for all of its medical students — both current and future students — regardless of their ability to pay.

For the 2018-19 academic year, that coverage amounts to $55,018 for each student.

The announcement makes NYU the first top-tier institution known to have covered tuition for the entire student body at its medical school. Nationally, 83 percent of M.D. students have $100,000 or more of education debt.

“It makes an enormous difference in our students lives,” said Dr. Robert Grossman, a dean at the School of Medicine and CEO of NYU Langone Health. “We think it will, at some level, relieve one source of stress in medical training.”

It took 11 years for NYU to raise enough funding to make the effort possible. To date, the school has raised over $450 million; Grossman and Dr. Rafael Rivera, associate dean for admissions and financial aid, said that the school should now be able to offer tuition-free education without an end in sight.

Ultimately, NYU hopes to have an endowment of $600 million to support the effort.

The school already allowed students the option to shave off their fourth year of training — typically spent doing additional specialty rotations and applying for residences — saving students a year’s tuition. For the last cohort, 20 percent of students seized this opportunity, said Grossman.

Sarah Keltz, a rising second-year student at the School of Medicine, said the announcement was “amazing news for the whole NYU community.”

She said the coverage will allow her to consider medical specialties based on where there is a need for care, instead of income potential. Keltz, who is interested in psychiatry, said she can now think about providing care in lower-resource settings.

“Hopefully it will increase access for students otherwise deterred by cost,” she added.

See also:

• NYU is offering free tuition to its medical students to fix one of the biggest problems in healthcare – but not everyone is convinced it'll work

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• New York University said last Thursday that it would offer free tuition to its current and future medical students. 
• NYU hopes that this move will help with the shortage of doctors in the US and encourage more students to go into primary care.
• Many physicians voiced their skepticism about this goal via Twitter, claiming that free tuition alone won't alleviate the financial barriers of pursuing a career in medicine. 

New York University made a bold move on Thursday when it said it would offer free tuition to current and future medical students. 

The university hopes this will alleviate the financial barriers that discourage many promising high school and college students from considering a career in medicine due to concerns with high medical school costs. Ideally, without looming medical student debt, students will choose to go into less high-earning areas of medicine such as primary care. 

"Saddled with staggering student loans, many medical school graduates choose higher-paying specialties, drawing talent away from less lucrative fields like primary care, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology," NYU said in a news release. There's been a shortage of primary care physicians in the US, in part because of how much less they're paid compared to doctors in more specialized areas of medicine. 

The funding will draw from the university's $600 million endowment, which it built up over the past 11 years for this very purpose. While the new plan waives tuitionm, which is around $55,000 annually per student at NYU, it doesn't cover room and board or fees, which together are an additional $27,000, on average. 

But many doctors are skeptical that the free ride will lead to more medical students opting into primary care. On Twitter, they argued that just covering the tuition alone, won't be enough. Many experts believe that without altering the selective medical school application process or finding a way to incentivize students to go into lower-paid specialties like primary care in underserved or poor regions, not much will change in the field.

Even with the tuition break, students are still more likely to choose the option to go into more lucrative specialties like plastic surgery or cardiology. 

"If six-figure debt were enough to motivate, I’d be surprised," Mark Friedberg, senior physician policy researcher at the RAND Corporation told Business Insider.

That’s because of the pay gap in lifetime earnings between primary care doctors and doctors that go into specialties. Over a lifetime, primary care doctors can make as much as $3 million less than their counterparts in other specialties, Friedberg said. 

Getting a free medical school education

According to a 2018 report by the Association of American Medical Colleges, there will be a shortage of anywhere from 42,600 to 121,300 doctors by 2030. This is due in some part to the potential for staggering medical school debt that discourages some students from pursuing medicine. Several of the nation's top medical schools, in response, already offer scholarships that cover some or all of the costs of attendance based on either need or merit. 

• UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, for example, has a $100 million fund that pays for the entire cost of medical school for all four years, including tuition, fees, books and living expenses for its high-merit students, which are approximately 20% of those enrolled.  
• The Cleveland Clinic's Lerner College of Medicine in 2008 announced that it would cover tuition for all students admitted to their highly selective five year program, with one required research year tacked on at the end of the medical education. The class size for this program is capped at 32 students. 

Other programs cover tuition — with a catch.

• The National Institutes of Health's Medical Scientists Training Program (MSTP) covers the cost of attendance for 970 students across 49 schools, but students have to dedicate on average eight continuous years to get a MD and PhD, which means their medical education will be extremely research-oriented.
• And students completing the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) or the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) can have their tuition waived on the condition of military service. 
• With a focus on motivating doctors to get into primary care, the National Health Service Corps covers tuition for students who agree to work for four to six years in an under-served area. These areas — geographic or population-based — tend to have shortages of primary care doctors. 

Additionally, in-state tuition for many public medical schools in states like Texas are becoming affordable, costing around $15,000-$20,000 a year. 

Other factors at play 

Skeptics of NYU's free tuition plan say it glosses over other issues that are creating a physician shortage. 

One is the increasing difficulty of getting into medical school. From 2006 to 2016, the volume of medical school applicants has increased by 36%, but acceptance rates have either steadily decreased or stayed the same. This means medical programs are becoming increasingly selective about who they admit. NYU's average GPA and MCAT scores for its current first year class are both in the 99th percentile. 

NYU's current freshman class is 93 students (with an additional 9 from the MSTP), a decrease from the class sizes of previous years, which were in the 120-130 range. 

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, in 2017, of the 51,680 applicants who applied to medical schools, only 21,338 students matriculated. That means from the total populations of students who wanted to become doctors post-undergraduate, only 41% make it to medical school. 

And even before pre-med students step into the doors of a medical school, there are a lot of costs. 

The MCATs, standardized medical school admission tests, costs $315 dollars to take and is a grueling seven hours long. The application fee for each medical school is around $100, and on average, each student applies to about 16 schools each application cycle. That's about a $2,000 investment up front. And not every applicant is successful.  

After medical school, each student is matched to a residency program, where they'll spend another four years at, and more if they choose to specialize. During residency, students make around $40,000-$60,000 a year, mostly to cover living expenses. 

It remains to be seen whether current NYU students alter their career paths and disproportionately get into lower-paying areas like primary care and pediatrics. And even if they do, Friedberg said, it might not do much if those doctors decide to practice in areas of the country that don't have a shortage. 

SEE ALSO: NYU is offering free tuition for all its current and future medical students

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• NYU's announcement that it will make medical school tuition free has other top schools across the country grappling with how they can stay competitive to land top students. 
• Business Insider spoke with several private, top-ranked medical schools to gauge their reaction to NYU's decision. 
•  But barring a large gift and mandate from a donor to provide medical school tuition-free — as was the thrust of NYU's program — most med schools have to find other ways to keep education costs down. 

Tuition-free medical school is becoming less of a pipe dream and more of a reality for future medical students. 

New York University made a bold move in August when it said it would offer free tuition to current and future medical students.

The university hopes the decision will alleviate the financial barriers that discourage many promising high school and college students from considering a career in medicine due to concerns with high medical school costs. The effort was funded over 11 years in which NYU raised $600 million including a $100 million gift from billionaire Kenneth Langone and his wife Elaine.

The promise of a tuition-free education will likely give NYU an even more talented pool of applicants vying for that benefit. As medical schools across the country look to attract the best and the brightest, NYU's announcement to go tuition-free is a game-changer. Now more than ever, medical schools will have to figure out ways to compete and differentiate themselves.

But barring a large gift and mandate from a donor to provide medical school tuition-free — as was the thrust of NYU's program — schools have to find other ways to keep education costs down. 

We reached out to the top 20 medical schools (of which NYU is one), as ranked by US News and World Report to get their reaction to the news and whether we could expect to one day see other schools follow suit. All of the medical schools that Business Insider spoke with were private universities, and all offer a mix of need and merit-based scholarships to their medical school classes. 

For the most part, the medical schools met the NYU announcement with excitement and congratulations. 

"I think it's great. One could even say it's like when Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile," Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine vice dean for education and professor of medicine Dr. Roy Ziegelstein told Business Insider. 

"All of us in medical education see this as a good thing," he said. "I don't think there are any schools in the country that don't grapple with the cost of attendance." 

Providing a tuition free medical education has been Ziegelstein's priority for some time but until that happens, Johns Hopkins has been trying to increase the appeal and affordability of their programs through offerings of need-based and merit-based scholarships.

Vanderbilt Medical School told Business Insider that 70% of its students receive some form of scholarship and almost half graduate with no debt. "We are actively exploring ways of covering more need, as calculated by federal aid applications," Vanderbilt said in an email.

Dr. Valerie Ratts, an associate dean for admissions at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said the school isn't making any quick decisions, even in the wake of NYU's announcement. 

"We’re carefully considering how to best spend our money," Ratts said. 

For many, that means increasing the amount of financial aid for students who need it the most. 

"We aim to partner with visionary philanthropists who can help us provide more robust scholarship support to every student with financial need and are working to lower and, ultimately, to eliminate student debt, giving our graduates the flexibility to pursue the medical field of their choice," Harvard Medical School said in a statement. 

Read more: NYU is offering free tuition to its medical students to fix one of the biggest problems in healthcare – but not everyone is convinced it'll work

Many medical schools are trying to find ways to make sure its students don't live with debt after graduation.

In 2016, former Merck chairman Dr. P. Roy Vagelos and his wife, Diana, gave Columbia’s medical school $250 million toward a debt-free program. The new scholarship program will allow approximately 20% of students to receive scholarships covering their entire tuition. It also provide grants for approximately half of students body that qualify for financial aid, which means they don't have to take out loans. 

"Benefactor funding to increase scholarship endowments and eliminate medical student debt is an investment that can significantly impact the future of patient care," Dr. Fredric Meyer, the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine's executive dean for education, said in an email. 

Some schools agreed that education debt is a critical issue, but they weren't sure that a tuition free offering is the best way to incentivize students to go into medicine. 

"I'm not sure if you had a gift that it's the best way to spend it going forward," Duke University School of Medicine vice dean for education Dr. Edward Buckley told Business Insider. His argument: There are other ways to spend the funding from a large gift, such as cutting-edge medical technology that can be used to train students. 

Dr. Neil Gesundheit, the senior associate dean for medical education at Stanford School of Medicine told Business Insider that he hopes to subsidize more students' tuition and living expenses. He said he does expect to see other schools follow suit with tuition-free medical programs, though he expressed concern about how this might impact state schools that might not be able to promise the free tuition private institutions — and their donor pools — have made accessible.

"I worry about medical schools that are strong training programs but aren't well supported by philanthropy," he said. 

SEE ALSO: NYU is offering free tuition to its medical students to fix one of the biggest problems in healthcare – but not everyone is convinced it'll work

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• With the cost of college already at an all-time high, is it more affordable to live on campus or off campus?
• Trulia recently took a look at how much it costs to live on campus and off campus in 48 of America's biggest college towns.
• In more than half of the places, it was either the same price or cheaper to live off campus, with an average savings of $219 a month — but there are a few caveats.

The cost of college has already reached an all-time high— and while many worry about the price tag of tuition, they often overlook the expense of a place to live.

But what's more affordable — the dorm room on campus or an apartment off campus? Well, that answer depends on which college you attend and which college town you're living in.

Trulia recently took a look at how much it costs to live on campus and off campus in 48 of America's biggest college towns. To determine this list, Trulia chose US Census-defined places of at least 45,000 people, 20% of which were enrolled in college or graduate school.

Consulting the website of the largest college or university in each place, the site then calculated on-campus housing costs for a full nine-month academic year based on monthly or per-semester rates, excluding meal plans where possible. 

Trulia then compared on-campus monthly housing costs to the median estimated monthly cost of a two-bedroom home in a 12-month rental in each place, assuming the cost was split in half between two roommates and divided over nine months to match the academic year.

In more than half of the places, it was either the same price or cheaper to live off campus, with an average savings of $219 a month for those with a roommate. However, eight of these places include meal plans in the on-campus housing costs — if removed, that brings the average savings down to $146 a month. And, most utilities aren't included in off-campus rentals, which could lessen the savings once factored in.

For the 20 places where on-campus housing was more affordable, students would save an average of $221 a month. Note that none of these included a meal plan.

Below, see how much it costs to live on- and off-campus in America's biggest college towns. Starred on-campus monthly housing costs indicate that a meal plan was included in the estimate.

SEE ALSO: College is more expensive than it's ever been, and the 5 reasons why suggest it's only going to get worse

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48. Kansas State University — Manhattan, Kansas

Off-campus median monthly rent: $667

On-campus monthly housing cost: $667

Cost difference: $0

47. University of Wisconsin-Madison — Madison, Wisconsin

Off-campus median monthly rent: $865

On-campus monthly housing cost: $866*

Cost difference: $1

* includes meal plan

46. California State University Chico — Chico, California

Off-campus median monthly rent: $860

On-campus monthly housing cost: $868

Cost difference: $8

• Some private and public colleges are offering to match the cost of tuition of competing universities to incoming students, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• The goal is to entice high-achieving students from across the country and boost academic profiles.
• This price-match guarantee move, a tried and true tactic used by retailers, is a consequence of the expensive cost of college tuition and competition for incoming students.

In the face of rising college tuition, some private colleges are taking a leaf from the books of retailers and offering a price-match guarantee to prospective students, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The goal is to entice high-achieving students who would otherwise attend a less costly public university by matching public in-state tuition.

It's a strategic tactic considering that the cost of college tuition is more expensive than ever, as Business Insider previously reported. Consequently, student loan debt is at an all-time high — a whopping national total of $1.5 trillion, according to Student Loan Hero.

With a 10% increase in students taking out student loans — and borrowing more money while doing so, according to a report by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, it only makes sense that prospective students might opt for a more affordable college, causing private colleges to vie for their enrollment.

"Some colleges, facing dwindling populations of local high school graduates, are motivated to attract students from across the country," writes Melissa Korn of the Wall Street Journal. "Others are battling the perception they aren’t affordable or just looking to boost their academic profiles."

Atlanta's Oglethorpe University is offering to match the tuition price of public universities in high-achieving students' home states in an effort "[grow] the top of the class," the college's president told the Journal. And Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania instituted a new Public Price Match Plus guarantee — including a $3,000 scholarship — to compete with the lower tuition costs of the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State, two nearby public universities.

From the 2016-17 to the 2017-18 school year, the average cost of tuition and fees increased by more than 3% at private and public colleges, according to the College Board's "Trends in College Pricing 2017" report. At a four-year nonprofit private institution, tuition and room and board is $46,950, on average, compared to a four-year public college, which charges an average of $20,770 a year for tuition, fees, and room and board.

The average tuition for out-of-state students, per the College Board's "Trends in College Pricing 2017" report, goes up to $36,420.

And so it's not just private schools offering a price match — Michigan, South Dakota, and Nebraska public universities are offering in-state tuition costs for out-of-state students, the Journal reported.

The competition for top talent is all a part of the vicious cycle of supply and demand.

"The demand for higher education has risen dramatically since 1985," Richard Vedder, an author and distinguished professor of economics emeritus at Ohio University, previously told Business Insider. "Once demand goes up and nothing else happens, that will raise prices."

The more students who want to attend college, the more the cost of college increases. As a result, the rewards of college have expanded and grown from 1985 to a little after 2000 and leveled off in the past decade.

"The advantage of a degree today is less than it was 10 years ago, because of the rising cost," he said.

Read the full Wall Street Journal article here »

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DON'T MISS: College is more expensive than it's ever been, and the 5 reasons why suggest it's only going to get worse

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There's no doubt about it: college is expensive, and it will likely get more expensive in the coming years. Furthermore, student loan debt is higher than ever.

But the good news is, depending on where you work it could come a lot cheaper — if not almost free.

Many companies around the country provide their employees with tuition assistance, ranging from a couple thousand dollars of aid to almost entirely covered. 

From Starbucks to Chipotle to Fidelity Investments, here are 15 companies that help their employees get a degree. 

UPS

UPS has an excellent tuition reimbursement policy for its employees. Through the Learn & Earn program, part-time employees can earn up to $5,250 in assistance per year, and up to $25,000 total.

And Learn & Earn has a high retention rate — according to their website, over 70% of UPS employees started out as hourly part-time employees. And what's more, UPS claims to have invested over $200 million in tuition assistance for approximately 120,000 college students since the program was launched in 1999.

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo is the third-largest bank in the US, and it strives to treat its "team members" with benefits, a 401(k) plan, and up to $5,000 in annual tuition reimbursement. 

Wells Fargo reimburses employees up to $5,000 per year for for eligible tuition expenses, and offers scholarships to employee children as well, ranging from $1,000 to $3,000.

Smucker's

Next time you're enjoying a jar of Smucker's strawberry jelly, consider looking into a job at The J.M. Smucker Company, one of America's most iconic companies.

According to their website, Smucker's offers reimbursement for continued college courses, as long as they've been approved by the company. They also offer a scholarship program for 10 employee kids a year, for $3,000 each.

• Getting an MBA can be a huge investment of both time and money.
• Higher- and business-education specialists QS Quacquarelli Symonds recently released its 2019 Global MBA Ranking, evaluating 251 of the best business schools in the world.
• Using QS estimates of the programs' tuition costs, we ranked the 35 best MBA programs in the Global MBA Ranking from least to most expensive.

Getting an MBA can be a huge investment of both time and money.

Higher- and business-education specialist QS Quacquarelli Symonds recently released its 2019 Global MBA Ranking, evaluating 251 of the best business schools in the world.

QS ranked programs on employability for graduates, entrepreneurship and alumni outcomes, students' return on investment as measured by post-graduation increases in salary, academic thought leadership, and class and faculty diversity.

QS also estimated the programs' tuition costs. Here are the 35 best MBA programs in the world according to QS, ranked from least to most expensive in USD.

SEE ALSO: 35 business schools that get the most bang for your buck, ranked

35. Copenhagen

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Estimated tuition: $52,500

Program duration: 12 months

QS Global MBA Rank: 31

Read more about Copenhagen at TopMBA »

34. EDHEC

Location: Nice, France

Estimated tuition: $52,857

Program duration: 10 months

QS Global MBA Rank: 35

Read more about EDHEC at TopMBA »

33. ESSEC

Location: Paris, France/Singapore

Estimated tuition: $54,059

Program duration: 12 months

QS Global MBA Rank: 26

Read more about ESSEC at TopMBA »

• With the cost of college at an all-time high, it's important to take into consideration what's being offered in a financial aid package.
• The Princeton Review ranked the top 20 colleges that offer the least amount of financial aid based on student responses. 
• More than half of the schools are located in the northeast.

The cost of an undergraduate degree is at an all-time high.

More than 44 milion Americans are saddled with student loan debt, contributing to a national total of $1.5 trillion, according to Student Loan Hero. And the average student debt per graduate who took out loans is higher than ever, at $17,126, Business Insider reported in November.

With those facts in mind, there's a lot to consider when it comes to selecting a college's financial aid package — some just aren't as robust as others.

The Princeton Review ranked the top 20 colleges that don't offer the greatest financial aid packages, according to students. It determined this ranking based on students' answers to the question: "If you receive financial aid, how satisfied are you with your financial aid package?"

Thirteen of the schools are located in the northeast — nine of which make the top ten.

Below, see which schools offer the least financial aid, from the University of Massachusetts to New York University.

SEE ALSO: The 25 US colleges that give the most financial aid, ranked

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20. University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Annual tuition and fees: $34,570 (out-of-state); $15,887 (in-state)

Average loan debt per graduate: $31,860

19. University of Arizona

Annual tuition and fees: $32,449 (out-of-state); $11,644 (in-state)

Average loan debt per graduate: $23,956

18. University of New Hampshire

Annual tuition and fees: $33,879 (out-of-state); $18,499 (in-state)

Average loan debt per graduate: $33,013

• Figuring out how to pay for college can get tricky, so many turn to private scholarships. 
• Some companies are taking advantage of students' financial need and scamming their families. 
• From asking for your social security number to claiming that every person is eligible, there are plenty of red flags to look out for.

The college application process is a stressful time, but figuring out how to pay for college can be even more complicated. While many students turn to financial aid, others look to private scholarships to fund their education. 

In fact, 70% of students use scholarships at some point during their college education, according to The Student Loan Report. But with hundreds of thousands of scholarships offered, it is difficult to know what to look for when applying. Choosing the wrong one could lead to harmful scams that actually make paying for college even more difficult. 

Here are a few warning signs to look out for when applying for scholarships. 

If they're asking for any amount of money, it's probably a scam

Applying for scholarships should cost you nothing. If a fund is asking for a fee or requiring a payment of any kind, then it probably is a scam. No matter how small the fee is, do not pay. The $3 fee may seem small but when 100,000 applicants fall for the same trick, then the scammers get a major payout. 

Sometimes tricky wording is used in an attempt to fool applicants into paying. If you're accepted into a "society"and are forced to pay membership fees in order to be eligible for a scholarship, it is most likely a scam. Do not get distracted by fancy wording and be tricked into sending money. 

Also, remember that nothing is guaranteed when applying for a scholarship. If you see wording like, "Your scholarship is guaranteed or your money back," the company is probably planning on scamming you. Stay away from such sweeping claims. 

Read more: 20 US colleges where financial aid could be better, according to students

If a scholarship program contacts you before you've even applied, it's probably a scam

If you're getting unsolicited emails, phone calls, and mailings from scholarships, then chances are that scholarship fund is a scam. Legitimate scholarships have thousands of applicants, so don't need to actively seek out students. If you're being contacted and you haven't even applied, stay away from that program. 

Likewise, funds don't need to pressure students into applying because they usually have enough interest. Words like "limited time offer" are often used in marketing campaigns to draw people in and to force them to act fast. Legitimate scholarships shouldn't be using the same marketing tactics. 

Scholarships that ask for your social security number are not legitimate

Scholarships should never ask for personal information, especially not your social security number. If you win, then some personal information is required, but your social security number is not needed for applications. 

If every person is eligible, it should raise some flags

Most scholarships are designed to help a specific niche of students. In most cases, students have to meet a certain set of criteria to be eligible for the scholarship. For example, there are some offered only to specific races and ethnicities, some are for students who participate in sports, and some offer aid to creatives. If you're applying to a scholarship that is open to every type of student, it is cause for alarm. 

Stay away from companies that say they will do all the work for you

There are some companies that offer to do the scholarship process for you. If they are offering to do the research for a fee, they are probably scamming you. Remember that applying to scholarships is relatively easy and that all the information is easily accessible online. No company has more access or information than you do. 

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

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• Is an Ivy League degree worth the cost?
• According to a former Yale application reader and the founder and CEO of college-counseling firm IvyWise, it's worth considering whether you're getting financial aid.
• A student's education comes down to what they make of their experience on campus, she said. If you're proactive, you can still get the same caliber education if you attend another school that's more affordable.
• Ultimately, students should weigh their options instead of revering an "Ivy League education."

Ivy League colleges are known for their prestige, academic resources, and connections. But, is paying the steep price for an Ivy League education really worth it?

According to Dr. Kat Cohen, the founder and CEO of college-counseling firm IvyWise, an Ivy League education can be valuable for many people, but it's possible to get a quality education elsewhere for a fraction of the cost.

"While Ivy League colleges and schools of equal caliber generally have larger endowments and can often devote more resources to career outcomes and professional development, students still need to be proactive," Cohen, who was an application reader at Yale University before founding IvyWise 20 years ago, told Business Insider.

"If it's a considerable financial stretch to attend, students shouldn't enroll just to say they're getting an 'Ivy League education,'" she said.

But Cohen pointed out that many Ivy League schools have larger endowments and offer no-loan financial aid policies bringing the cost down considerably, while others like Princeton and Harvard offer grants that cover the entire tuition of students from families who earn less than $65,000. Still, applicants with a higher expected family contribution may receive admittance to an Ivy League school without financial aid.

"If a student has decided that a specific elite college is their best-fit school and gains admittance, then it can be worthwhile to make that investment — both in time and money," Cohen said. Ultimately, the value of a student's education comes down to what they make of their experience on campus, she said.

Read more: The 50 most underrated colleges in America

"Simply attending an elite college isn't enough to guarantee long-term career success; students need to be active on campus, maintain top grades, develop defined interests, and connect with colleagues and alumni in order to get the most out of their educational experience," Cohen said.

While not all Ivy League students graduate with a plethora of professional connections and potential mentors, it can be easier for students to make connections because of small class sizes, Cohen added. Ivy League colleges typically have robust career development resources and active alumni networks — but the same applies to smaller liberal arts colleges or smaller majors and schools within larger universities.

While Ivy League graduates' starting salaries can be high, there are dozens of other schools with equal or higher starting salaries — according to PayScale, an Ivy League doesn't even crack the top five highest-paying bachelor's degrees, Cohen said.

"Ultimately, a student should select a college that is the best overall fit, taking into account academic goals, social preferences, and financial considerations," Cohen said. "It is also important for an applicant to evaluate the programs and classes that directly relate to their interests or passions. Many state schools have top-notch research opportunities, sports teams, and professors that are leaders in specific fields."

SEE ALSO: 20 US colleges where financial aid could be better, according to students

DON'T MISS: The 25 US colleges that give the most financial aid, ranked

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• Tuition and other expenses at top US colleges continue to rise.
• Using data from the Department of Education, we took a look at what the median student at the 20 most expensive colleges in the US earned 10 years after attending those schools.

College continues to get more expensive, especially at the top end of the scale, and it's worth looking at the return on investment for that enormous cost. 

It turns out that many of the most expensive educations available in the US offer modest returns in terms of post-graduation salaries.

Using data from the Department of Education's College Scorecard, we found the average annual cost of attendance and median earnings for employed students 10 years after matriculation for four-year, primarily baccalaureate-granting institutions with at least 500 undergraduate students enrolled.

Here are the top 20 most expensive schools in the US, according to that measure, ranked by median earnings 10 years after first attendance:

Kathleen Elkins contributed to an earlier version of this article.

Bard College

Location: Annandale-On-Hudson, NY

Average annual cost of attendance: $66,724

16th most expensive college

Median earnings 10 years after entry: $39,700

Oberlin College

Location: Oberlin, OH

Average annual cost of attendance: $66,870

14th most expensive college

Median earnings 10 years after entry: $40,800

Sarah Lawrence College

Location: Bronxville, NY

Average annual cost of attendance: $66,642

18th most expensive college

Median earnings 10 years after entry: $43,000

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat and 2020 presidential candidate, made headlines last week when she unveiled an ambitious proposal to cancel student-loan debt and make public college free for all.
• A new INSIDER poll found that a big majority — 77% — of likely Democratic primary voters support Warren's plan to cancel 42 million Americans' student debt. 36% of Democratic voters said they strongly support it. 
• Overall, 57% of Americans at least somewhat support Warren's plan, while 21% at least somewhat oppose it. 
• Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

A large majority of likely Democratic primary voters — 77% — support Sen. Elizabeth Warren's $1.25 trillion plan to cancel tens of millions of Americans' student debt, according to a new INSIDER poll.

The Massachusetts Democrat's proposal would forgive $50,000 in student loan debt for every American whose family makes up to $100,000, and households that make between $100,000 and $250,000 would get a sliding portion of their debt cancelled. In addition, Warren's plan would make all public higher education, including community colleges, tuition- and fee-free.

INSIDER's poll found 36% of likely Democratic primary voters strongly support Warren's debt cancellation plan, 25% support it, and 16% somewhat support it. 10% of Democratic voters at least somewhat oppose the plan. 

Read more: 57% of Americans who've already paid off their student loans support Elizabeth Warren's plan to cancel 42 million Americans' college debt

Overall, 57% of Americans at least somewhat support the 2020 candidate's debt cancellation proposal and 21% opposed the measure. 13% of respondents did not either support or oppose the idea while 9% said they didn't know how they felt about the plan.

The plan found majority support among those who wouldn't benefit from debt cancellation directly, including those who've already paid off their student loans, who never took out loans, or who did not attend college or graduate school. 

Warren's plan is vast in scope: it would eliminate all student debt for 75% of Americans who have it, and get rid of at least some debt for 95% of the almost 45 million affected Americans, according to an analysis by four social policy professors released by Warren's campaign.

Read more: Elizabeth Warren is trying to tackle the skyrocketing cost of education with a plan to forgive student-loan debt and offer free college — but experts are divided on her ambitious idea

The popularity of Warren's student debt cancellation plan may well shift the debate within the Democratic presidential primary over how to make college more affordable. While nearly every 2020 Democrat supports some version of debt-free college, Warren's plan is much more wide-ranging than the proposals from the competition.

This isn't the first time Warren's staked out the most ambitious policy position in the 2020 field. She's already rolled out policies including a universal childcare plan, an ultra-millionaire tax, and a plan to break up tech giants like Amazon and Facebook. 

SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by census data of age and gender. Respondents are incentivized to complete surveys through charitable contributions. Generally speaking, digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet. SurveyMonkey Audience doesn't try to weight its sample based on race or income. This survey had a total 1,144 respondents, a margin of error plus or minus 3.07 percentage points with a 95% confidence level.

SEE ALSO: 57% of Americans who've already paid off their student loans support Elizabeth Warren's plan to cancel 42 million Americans' college debt

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• The private-equity tycoon Robert F. Smith vowed Sunday to donate money to pay off student-loan debt for Morehouse College's graduating class of 2019.
• While the rich have given universities generous gifts for decades, billionaires are addressing the ballooning student-debt crisis directly by paying the tuition of incoming students or writing checks for recent grads.
• The Home Depot cofounder Ken Langone recently donated $100 million to help make New York University's medical school tuition-free.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The investor Robert F. Smith, who's ranked by Forbes as the 163rd-richest person in the US, with a net worth of $5 billion, shocked graduating Morehouse College students over the weekend by announcing that he was paying off their student loans — an issue other billionaires have begun tackling.

During his commencement address on Sunday, Smith said he would pay off debt for the 400-person graduating class of the historically black, all-male college in Atlanta. The gift could total $40 million, a Morehouse representative told the local news outlet 11Alive News.

"My family is going to create a grant to eliminate your student loans," Smith told the graduating seniors. "You great Morehouse men are bound only by the limits of your own conviction and creativity."

Read more:Here's why Home Depot's billionaire cofounder is helping pay tuition for every NYU med school student

Smith isn't the only billionaire paying student loans. The Home Depot cofounder Ken Langone announced last year that he would pay tuition for every New York University medical student, a gift that totaled $100 million of his money. The school endowment now offers free tuition for every student regardless of need.

The donations come at a time when American millennials are in record amounts of debt. Some economists have predicted that 40% of borrowers might default on their student loans by 2023, which could have economic effects similar to those of the subprime-mortgage crisis.

Research has found that the student-debt crisis hits black families harder than white ones. Black graduates default on their loans at five times the rate of white grads, according to the Brookings Institution. A recent report in The Wall Street Journal found that graduates of historically black colleges had 32% more debt than students from other schools.

While the rich have donated money to universities for decades, they began using their money to address student loans recently. Tony James, the billionaire executive vice chairman of the private-equity firm Blackstone, recently set up the Education Finance Institute to explore alternatives to paying for colleges outside loans. Silicon Valley investors — including the actor Ashton Kutcher and the Bedrock founder Geoff Lewis— are also looking at ways to tackle the student-debt crisis.

"I think it is a crisis," James told Yahoo Finance. "The impact on lives is huge — students come out burdened with that."

Michael Bloomberg, the US's ninth-richest man, according to Forbes, recently donated a record $1.8 billion to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins. Though the money did not go toward eliminating student debt, he spoke about the importance of helping low-income students gain access to quality education.

Solutions to student debt are likely to be at the forefront of the 2020 presidential race. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, offered a plan to eliminate student debt for 42 million Americans, funded by taxing billionaires like Langone and Smith.

"This is generous, no doubt,"Anand Giridharadas, an author who has been an outspoken critic of billionaires, told The New York Times regarding Smith's donation. "But a gift like this can make people believe that billionaires are taking care of our problems, and distract us from the ways in which others in finance are working to cause problems like student debt, or the subprime crisis, on an epically greater scale than this gift."

SEE ALSO: Here's why Home Depot's billionaire co-founder is helping pay tuition for every NYU med school student

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• Women graduate with $2,700 more student debt than men, according to a new report by the American Association of University Women.
• Women hold more bachelor's degrees than men in the US, but face more difficulty paying off loans. 
• Greater debt is one of many barriers keeping women from earning as much as men.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

After graduating college, women have $2,700 more student debt on average than men, according to a new report by the American Association of University Women.

While women earn 57% of bachelor's degrees in the US, they hold two-thirds of the country's outstanding student debt — totaling nearly $929 billion as of early 2019.

AAUW attributes the gender divide to the increasing cost of college: while the median household income grew by only 14% since 1987, the price of a college education sky-rocked by 103% in the same time period. Women repay their loans more slowly due to earning less than men on average. Female graduates earn 18% less than their male peers after one year of graduation. 

Read more:College grads still earn more than workers with no university degree. This map shows the states with the widest salary gaps.

Women may also pay additional expenses in college, such as childcare, said AAUW CEO Kim Churches. Churches also said there are still families that save more for their sons' education than their daughters'.

"It's pernicious," Churches told Business Insider. "Women have significantly less resources at hand, yet women live longer than men. It's really a full lifecycle story." 

Black women are hit particularly hard by the student debt gender divide. While the average amount of debt for woman amounts to $21,619, the average amount of debt for black women exceeds $30,000. About 57% of black women reported that they had been unable to meet essential expenses within the past year due to student-loan repayment.

The AAUW, founded in 1881, is a nonprofit that promotes gender equality in higher education. The organization analyzed data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics.

Greater debt is one of many barriers keeping women from earning as much as men. Women working full time earn 80.7 cents for every dollar a man earns, according to a Business Insider analysis of US Census data. Companies are less likely to promote women into executive positions, and women with children still bear the burden of performing childcare on top of paid work. 

Four in 10 working women say they experience gender discrimination at work, ranging from being denied a promotion to earning less than men in the same position, according to a 2017 Pew Research Center survey.

While the AAUW has documented the gender gap in loans in the past, there is greater visibility to the student loan crisis recently. The amount of debt millennials are in reached record highs, and economists have predicted the amount of Americans predicted to default on their loans could lead to a recessions. Analysts expect the issue to be at the forefront of the 2020 presidential race, as many Democratic candidates already released plans to tackle the issue.

SEE ALSO: The 25 highest-paying entry-level jobs for college grads

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• A significant number of college students are going hungry or homeless, reported Pacific Standard, citing a new study by the non-profit Hope Center.
• Of the four-year college student respondents, 30% said they didn't eat when they were hungry because they couldn't afford it. Another 14% said they don't have a stable place to live.
• It's a product of the growing expense of college, which has propelledstudent loan debt to record levels.
• Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

The "broke college student" stereotype has reached a new level.

An astounding number of American college students are going hungry or homeless, reported James McWilliams for Pacific Standard, citing a new study by the non-profit Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice. It conducted surveys with 167,000-plus students across 101 community colleges and 68 four-year colleges and universities.

Nearly half of respondents said that in the month prior to the survey, they experienced food insecurity —"the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food, or the ability to acquire such food in a socially acceptable manner," according to the report.

Roughly 50% of two-year college students and 44% of four-year college students in the survey worried their food would run out before they could afford to buy more. Of each group, 30% didn't eat when they were hungry because they couldn't afford it.

Read more: College is more expensive than it's ever been, and the 5 reasons why suggest it's only going to get worse

Housing was also an issue among respondents — 18% of two-year college students and 14% of four-year college students said they were homeless. Some respondents reported staying with a relative or friend, or couch surfing, while others said they lived outdoors, at a shelter, or in a camper. 

It's a side effect of the growing expense of college — tuition has more than doubled since the 1980s. As a result, student loan debt is at an all-time high, according to Student Loan Hero: The national total student debt is over $1.5 trillion and the average student loan debt per graduating student in 2018 who took out loans is $29,800.

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• A New York Fed study suggests that a college degree still offers a solid financial return, even with rising tuition costs.
• The study found that the average worker with a college degree earns about $33,000 more than the average high school graduate.
• The rate of return on a degree has dropped a bit in recent years, but still remains very high.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

College tuition is skyrocketing, but the benefits of a degree are still big enough that it is still generally worth it.

A new report from the New York Fed's Liberty Street Economics blog took a look at the returns from a college education. Even though college has gotten more expensive, the study found that the financial benefits of earning a degree still make higher education a good investment.

The main economic advantage of a college degree, of course, is higher wages. The NY Fed researchers noted that, in 2018, the average worker with a bachelor's degree earned about $78,000, while the average worker with a high school diploma earned just $45,000, making for a difference of about $33,000.

The report also pointed out that this college wage premium has remained fairly stable since the turn of the century. The researchers wrote, "The college wage premium generally increased during the 1980s and 1990s, rising from less than $20,000 to around $30,000, before settling into a relatively narrow range of $30,000 to $35,000 after 2000."

The college premium is geographically widespread across the US. Using individual-level Census data from the Minnesota Population Center's Integrated Public Use Microdata Series program, we found that, in every state and DC, the typical resident with at least a bachelor's degree earned more than the typical non-college grad.

Read more: People are fleeing the US to keep from paying off their student loans

The New York Fed went on to calculate the rate of return on a college degree, comparing that long-term premium in wages down the road to the direct costs of attending college and the opportunity cost of lost wages from delaying entry into the workforce for the four years needed to earn a bachelor's degree.

The following chart from the report shows that calculation. Even though the rate of return on a college degree has fallen a bit from its height in the early 2000s, it remains high. The report's authors wrote, "at nearly 14 percent, the return to college easily exceeds various investment benchmarks, such as the long-term return on stocks (7 percent) or bonds (3 percent)."

The report pointed out that the lower rate of return is largely due to increased costs of college. "While the college wage premium has held steady—or even increased slightly—in recent years, costs have been increasing due to rising opportunity costs and a steady rise in tuition," the authors wrote.

The report includes some caveats to the analysis. While the rate of return for the typical college graduate is strong, it's quite possible that college isn't a good investment for all students. The authors referred to earlier work of theirs that suggested that getting a degree could be a net negative financial proposition for the bottom quarter of earners.

A recent INSIDER/Morning Consult survey shows that many millennials, particularly those with outstanding student debt, think that college wasn't worth it. According to that survey, 64% of millennial grads who had finished paying off their student loans said earning their degree was worth it, while just 48% of those still paying off their loans agreed.

Read the full article at the New York Fed's Liberty Street Economics blog here»

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• From hair salons to bars, here are 30 industries dominated by millennials
• A quarter of non-retired Americans have nothing saved for retirement
• From cafeteria workers to principals, here's what everyone makes in a public school
• The most common ancestry in every US state

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• Almost every year, Harvard University increases its cost of tuition, room, and board. 
• Before 1960, it cost less than $1,000 to attend the university. 
• Since 1980, the cost of tuition has steadily been on the incline, costing $13,085 in 1990, $22,054 in 2000, and $33,696 in 2010. 
• Today, Harvard's tuition is at its highest, costing students $47,730.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Back in 1840, Harvard University only cost $75 a year. Almost 200 years later, the cost of tuition has grown to nearly $70,000. 

The university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has long been drawing some of the world's greatest minds into its lecture halls and dormitories. But as class size grew, so did the cost to attend. 

Starting in the 1930s, this is how much it costs to be a student at Harvard.

In 1930, Harvard's tuition was just $400.

The cost of tuition remained the same throughout the Great Depression. 

In 1947, the tuition at Harvard increased to $525.

Quickly, the university realized that it could not operate on a fixed-tuition rate and fundraising, so they decided to increase the cost. 

In 1949, the tuition went up again to $600.

The cost of tuition remained the same until the '50s. 

In 1953, Harvard students saw another increase to $800.

Tuition steadily rose throughout the '50s. 

In 1960, Harvard's tuition was $1,520.

The tuition was a 15% increase from the previous year. 

By 1975, Harvard's tuition had increased to $5,350.

It was a $325 increase from the previous year.

Starting in the '80s, Harvard's costs have steadily been on the incline. In 1985, Harvard's tuition was $9,500.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $14,100.

In 1986, Harvard's tuition jumped to $10,266.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $15,100.

In 1987, Harvard's tuition was $11,040.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $16,145.

In 1988, Harvard's tuition increased to $11,645.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $17,100.

In 1989, Harvard's tuition rose to $12,310.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $18,210.

In 1990, Harvard's tuition was $13,085.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $19,395.

In 1991, Harvard's tuition increased to $13,960.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $20,655.

In 1992, Harvard's tuition rose to $14,860.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $22,080.

In 1993, Harvard's tuition was to $15,870.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $23,514.

In 1994, Harvard's tuition was to $16,856.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $24,880.

In 1995, Harvard's tuition increased to $17,851.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $26,230.

In 1996, Harvard's tuition jumped to $18,838.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $27,575.

In 1997, Harvard's tuition was $19,770.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $28,896.

In 1998, Harvard's tuition was $20,600.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $30,080.

In 1999, Harvard's tuition increased to $21,342.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $31,132.

In 2000, Harvard's tuition increased to $22,054.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $32,164.

In 2001, Harvard's tuition was bumped up to $22,694.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $33,110.

In 2002, Harvard's tuition increased to $23,457.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $34,269.

In 2003, Harvard's tuition was $24,630.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $35,950.

In 2004, Harvard's tuition jumped to $26,066.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $37,928.

In 2005, Harvard's tuition rose again to $27,448.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $39,880.

In 2006, Harvard's tuition was $28,752.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $41,675.

In 2007, Harvard's tuition was $30,275.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $43,655.

In 2008, Harvard's tuition was bumped up to $31,456.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $45,620.

In 2009, Harvard's tuition increased to $32,557.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $47,215.

In 2010, Harvard's tuition was $33,696.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $48,868.

In 2011, Harvard's tuition was $34,976.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $50,723.

In 2012, Harvard's tuition increased to $36,305.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $52,652.

In 2013, Harvard's tuition was $37,576.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $54,496.

In 2014, Harvard's tuition increased to $38,891.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $56,407.

In 2015, Harvard's tuition spiked to $40,418.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $58,607.

In 2016, Harvard's tuition jumped again to $41,632.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $60,659.

In 2017, Harvard's tuition reached $43,280.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $63,025.

In 2018, Harvard's tuition reached $46,340.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard was $67,580.

In 2019, Harvard's tuition will reach its highest price tag of $47,730.

With room and board, the total cost to attend Harvard will be $69,607.

• Read more:
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• Headhunters ranked the top 30 business schools. Harvard barely made the top 20.
• Here's where the world's most influential tech CEOs went to college — and what they studied
•  

• Li Ka-Shing, the richest man in Hong Kong, announced on June 16 that his foundation will cover the entire cost of the tuition for Shantou University's incoming class for up to five years.
• The pledge will cost him $14.4 million a year, according to the BBC.
• Li's announcement comes a month after American billionaire Robert F. Smith pledged to pay off the Morehouse College class of 2019's student loans and a year after The Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone began paying the tuition of every student at NYU's medical school.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Shantou University's incoming class won't have to pay a cent in tuition thanks to Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing.

The Li Ka-Shing Foundation announced June 16 that it will cover the class' tuition for up to five years as a part of an ongoing initiative to make higher education more accessible in China. 

Sometimes called "Superman," the 90-year-old billionaire has a net worth of $30.4 billion, according to Forbes, making him the wealthiest man in Hong Kong. Li, who was born in China but moved to Hong Kong in 1940 to escape a Japanese invasion, began his career as a factory worker. He built his fortune as a real-estate developer and major investor in port operator and cell phone carrier CK Hutchison Holdings. Li retired from the conglomerate in May 2018, but still serves as a senior advisor.

Read more: Hong Kong's richest man retired at 89 years old — here's his incredible rags-to-riches life story

This is not the first time Li has worked with Shantou University. He served as the school's honorary president before passing the torch to his son Richard Li Tzar Kai in June 2018. The school currently has 10,056 undergraduates, who are each charged $8,690 for tuition according to its website.

"The Foundation hopes this scheme can alleviate financial burdens for families and encourage the pursuit of personal interests and further learning to better prepare graduates for the challenges of an increasingly complex global economy," the Li Ka Shing Foundation said in a statement.

Li's announcement comes a month after American billionaire Robert F. Smith pledged to pay off the student loans of all 400 members of Morehouse College's class of 2019. Last year, The Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone pledged to pay the tuition of every student at New York University's medical school. 

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