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Show Bigger College Bills Face Local Parents For young men and young women in Grand County who want to go to college this year, getting enrolled will not be as difficult as in other years. With registrations running below normal at many colleges, col-leges, there is ample room for them. The big problem, for the prospective students and their parents, is how to pay for it. Since last year, tuition costs have gone up considerably. So has the cost of room and board. Colleges have been forced to raise their rates in order to meet the higher cost of fuel, food, labor and materials. According to a nationwide poll of 2,400 colleges and universities, conducted by the College Entrance Examination Board, students will have bills that are 6 to 8 per cent above last year's. Those attending four-year private colleges will be paying an average of $4,391, or $252 more than before. At four-year public colleges it will average $2,679, which is $279 more. Sizeable increases are also noted at two-year colleges, especially public ones. Based upon the new rate schedules and the number of local residents expected to attend, Grand County parents will be shouldering a $813,000 load for the coming academic year. That will cover tuition, fees, room and board, books, transportation and miscellaneous miscellan-eous expenses. A partial offset to the rise in college costs is the financial aid being made available to students. More scholarships, grants, loans and job programs pro-grams than ever before are being offered. Over $857 million in such student aid programs has been awarded for the coming academic year by the U. S. Office of Education, $4.9 million of it in the State of Utah, reports the Commerce Clearing House. It is estimated that Grand County's college-bound contingent con-tingent will number about 230 this year. The $813,000 cost that local parents will be bearing is calculated on the assumption thast half of the students will be going to public colleges and half to private ones. |