The
Rising Cost
of College
Over the last thirty years, tuition at
public 4-year
colleges has increased by about 50%, and tuition at private 4-year
colleges has increased
by a whopping 110%! Where do you plan on going to college and how
do you and your
family intend to fund your college expenses?
Create a PowerPoint presentation that
analyzes
three different
colleges you might like to attend.
1. The
presentation should include
the following for each of your three colleges of choice:
- Present a short description of each college, which
includes the name, location, current enrollment size, and field
speciality (i.e. engineering, teaching, music, business, medicine, etc.)
- Display a graph that displays the tuition rate
for each college
over the past five years. Based on the trend, speculate (make an
informed guess) what the
tuition rate might be by the time you enter college.
2. Display the
following information about each of
your three favorite
colleges.
- Tuition (per year)
- Room & Board (per year)
- Books (estimated cost per year - you might have to
browse the web site of the college bookstore)
- Living Expenses (food, clothing, amusement,
entertainment)
- Scholarships you think you might qualify for (per
year - find at least four)
- Grants you think you might qualify for (per
year - find at least one)
- Total Expected Expense (Tuition + Room & Board
+ Books + Living Expenses)
3. On a series of
slides, display a short description about each of the scholarships and
grants
that you plan on applying for and
receiving. You should have at least five descriptions, one
description per slide.
4. At the end of
your presentation, show which of the three colleges you would like
to
attend. Give at least three reasons for your choice.
The following suggests steps to take to complete this
project. These
are merely suggestions to help you organize your thoughts. These
items do not need
to be included with your project.
- What do you think the ideal college should be like?
- Would it be large or small?
- Would it be located in a big city or a small town?
- Would the weather be warm or cold?
- What would the professors, classes, students, and
sports teams
be like?
- Search the Internet for description of colleges.
- Make a list of schools that fit the description that
you prefer.
- Narrow your list down to your three favorite
colleges.
- Compare the tuition rates of in-state (California)
colleges
versus out-of-state (non-California) colleges.
- Research the financial aid that is available to
students attending three of your favorite colleges.
- What scholarships do these colleges offer?
- What additional scholarships can you find that you
could qualify for?
- Will these colleges assist you in finding a
part-time
job?
- How much money can you earn on such a job?
- Can you get a loan from these colleges, the federal
government, or some other agency?
California
Institutions
- University
of Southern California
- University
of California, Los Angeles
- California
State University, Long Beach
- California
State University, Dominguez Hills
- California
State University, Los Angeles
- California
State University, Northridge
- University
of California, Irvine
- University
of California, Berkeley
- University of California,
Davis
- Azusa
Pacific University
- Biola
University
- California
State Univeristy, Fullerton
- San
Diego State Univeristy
- California
State University, Fresno
- University
of the Pacific
- San
Francisco State University
- University
of California, Santa Cruz
- Sacramento
State University
Scholarship/Grant
Information
Your final project will be evaluated on the following
criteria:
- Do you have all of the
components of the project (3
graphs, 3 college descriptions, slides containing
all scholarship/grant information, the slide(s) explaining your college
of
choice)?
- Do you have the necessary
data in your presentation
that support your college of choice?
- Is the text easy to read when
displayed on an LCD projector?
- Does your presentation grab and
hold the attention of your audience (your classmates)?
- Is your presentation free of
errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization?
- Does your presentation have
transitions, animation, and graphics that make it interesting for your
audience?
After completing this project, reflect on the math you
used.
- What math skills did you use for this project?
- How did math assist you in your decision making?
- What other subjects did you use?
- Was the cost of tuition the determining factor in
your decision?
A note to
teachers and parents regarding the SOLs
covered in this project.
Back to Mrs.
Branham's Home Page.
If you have any questions or comments
regarding this
WebQuest, contact C. Branham.
Last updated on
11/14/99
Liberally modified by Mr. Gee for his computer class.