A new survey from our country's biggest student lender shows families are cutting back on the amount of money they spend on higher education.
The average amount spent by those responding to Sallie Mae's annual survey dropped by 5% in the 2011- 2012 school year.
The survey shows more students are choosing two- year community colleges, and are living at home.
Both Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke and New River Community College in Dublin say they are seeing a bump in the number of students coming straight out of high school.
"I have met personally with some students who got accepted to many of the four year schools, especially a lot of the private schools. And once they started crunching the numbers and looking at the amount of grants and loan they took, they decided to come to Virginia Western," says Lori Baker, Dean of Student Services at Virginia Western Community College.
Tuition only, not including fees, is $1,404.00 a semester for in-state students at New River Community College. At Virginia Western, it is $1,621.08 per semester.
