Money Mayhem: Economy vs. Students: Who Will Fall?

Today's economy is tough on everyone, especially UW-Richland returning adult student Dennis Drake.

"It has been tough," Drake said of being a student this semester. "I have seen friends that are students who are struggling making ends meet. Every day I see them make choices to forgo eating lunch because they can't afford it."

Drake's family members are also feeling the effects of this current state of the economy.

"My family members have suffered the most," he said. "My son and daughter-in-law both have been laid-off, forcing them to have to move back home in order to make ends meet."

All of us have to make tough choices now more than ever: Eating out versus paying the gas bill; buying that new laptop; pumping gas into our cars.

And now, students are joining in on this current fight, and not just non-traditional students, but students overall are going to have even more tough times ahead due to the current state of our economy.

"I think times are only going to get worse before we see things turn around," Drake said. "We are all in the same boat and the boat has a hole in it; we all have to bail water if we want to stay afloat."

More than ever money for school is hard to come by, especially as prices increase.

"For the current academic year, the average list price of tuition and fees at four-year public universities rose $394, or 6.4 percent, to $6,585," according to the annual Trends in College Pricing report from the College Board. "At private colleges, prices rose $1,399, or 5.9 percent, to $25,143."

But the good news for UW-R students is that this school's tuition is the lowest in all of the UW-Colleges.

Tell us: Can you afford to go to college?

By: Alejandro Batts