Cost of College – Online Reporting, Research & Writing

Google perks for college shopping

Being in college does have its perks. What do I mean? Well after using a guide to search for different data sets with Google’s advanced search method, I found out how to read and understand them. Using this style of research for data makes things a lot easier when planning for your future.

A great example, the different tabs at the bottom shows the demographics, admission, and cost/comments for school in a given school year. In this case it was for the 2011-2012 year in the state of Michigan. After deleting schools that are not public and four-year I was left with 16 colleges, that was a bit shocking to me. I really was not aware that in this state of ours we had only 16 public colleges. I am not sure if that is a small number; I definitely will have to compare that to other states with a comparable populace.

The school that is the most expensive is Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University. I noticed there are extra charges, and this school as per the comment section will have cost relating to in state tuition/ out of state as well as general education requirement which is also not a standard cost. Some of the colleges do not have in-state/in-district transportation cost while others do. And Eastern Michigan is the only college without this expense in-state/in-district misc expenses.

The complete shocker to me was that the University of Michigan Dearborn is the least expensive four-year college. Now I feel better about my decision to continue my education at this college. My continuous debt if it was concrete would surely thank me.

Tuition costs in Michigan

It is always interesting when comparing college cost because they are always on the rise. The prices can change year to year and they are only going up!

We are going to compare sixteen 4-year universities in Michigan. The total cost of a year in college can range from $15,419.36 to $25,204.00 in 2017.

The University of Michigan -Dearborn cost is lowest in-state cost with your total cost being $15,419.36. The room and board are the lowest at U-M Dearborn, at $1,600.00! However, if you want to live in Ann Arbor you are going to pay the most at $9,468.00.

The cost of college can be very overwhelming, but don’t be scared of student debt. There are many ways that can cut the cost. There are scholarships, grants, and final aid is available for those students who qualify. I currently do not pay for room and board. I commute to and from school, so that also saves me money. Don’t be afraid of students debt. You can’t put a price tag on education!

Surprising cost of colleges in Michigan

So, as many of you know we recently had to do data analysis of the cost of certain colleges in Michigan. It came as a great surprise to me that the most expensive public four year college is not The University of Michigan. Because my family is a Michigan family I alway heard stories of the cost of attendance for Michigan, so I blindly assumed that The University of Michigan was the most expensive. But its not!

tuition

Some off-shoot of Ferris State is actually the most expensive school to attend. Looking at the cost per credit hour and the ridiculous requirement of owning a MacBook Pro it is not that surprising that Kendal College passes The University of Michigan. Other than Kendal beating out Michigan the rest of the table has nothing up its sleves. Michigan beats Michigan Tech and Michigan State, and they beat other smaller schools like Western and Central.

Michigan college comparison data story

Using Google’s Advanced Search Engine I was able to find different collections of data regarding Michigan Colleges including one I used to make a data story out of. This was an Excel sheet that covered the demographics, admission basics, and costs of Michigan colleges from 2-year, 4-year, and private schools.

Using Google’s Advanced Search to find Excel formatted data of Michigan colleges.

The section that was of most interest to me was the costs of the colleges. I was able to manipulate the data and sort it from most to least expensive universities in Michigan using the Sort and Filter tool on Excel. This allowed me to see exactly how much each university costs to attend and was helpful in organizing information in the way I needed in order to make my data story.

In fact, in terms of total expenses including tuition and fees, books and supplies, room and board, transportation, and expenses for in-state freshmen of 4-year Michigan Universities, University of Michigan-Dearborn was the least expensive. It makes me proud to know that I can get a great education at a school that is rather affordable!