Increase in college tuition greatly affects students in deciding on which four-year universities to attend and whether or not their dream colleges are worth it.

An on going concern for students is the tuition increase at four-year universities. These financial increases have become the main difference in furthering their education with the university they have dreamed of or going with the cheaper tuition alternative.

“Hearing about increased tuition for universities, makes you rethink things,” Keisha Powell, 19, psychology major, “You may have one school that you really want to go to but there are others that are less expensive.”

According to an article on online.wsj.com, private universities are concerned that all of the tuition increases over the years have led students to choose other universities with cheaper tuition. With not enough relief of costs students are becoming discouraged when it comes to choosing their four-year universities.

“Tuition hikes are hurting students who are moving on to a four-year college, all that work to get to that point and then costs just goes up over and over,” Hector Medina, 22, undecided major, said.

These private universities are now trying to ratify the tuition situation by offering more financial aid than they have in previous years to encourage students to select these educational institutions. For instance, University of the South, located in Tennessee, cut their tuition prices for the 2012-11 school year by 10 percent reducing it to $41,500.

“Universities that try to help students a little bit extra are the ones students are going to want to enroll in,” Medina said.

UC Berkley has 40 percent of undergraduate students who receive grants and scholarships and 65 percent have some form of financial aid, according to that same article. UC Berkley is rated 21 in the 2013 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities according to an article on colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com, with $11,767 in tuition and fees and $34,645 for out of state tuition and fees.

“Even with financial aid it can still be expensive to attend a university,” Jordan Rodgers, 22, business management major, said, “But it’s good that some universities are trying to help students as much as they can.”

Regardless of which four-year universities students really want to attend they will need to make difficult decisions and these decisions are life changing.

“When it comes to your dream school, people just need to figure out what’s
really worth it in the end because you have to live with that decision,” Rodgers said.