Cost of college challenges Oklahoma students, parents

At Oklahoma City University, where her son Tyler Clark is a sophomore acting major, costs average about $17,450 a semester, she said. Even with a scholarship and grants, her son has taken out "huge" student loans, she said, while Moore has been working overtime in her job at a medical billing company to contribute about $3,000 a semester.

"I was a single mom for several years and saving was just not in the cards for me," Moore said, "nor is it something I can do now."

She and her husband, who is self-employed, were turned down for a federal parent loan.

Despite the financial strain, Moore said she wouldn't change anything.

"It's awesome to watch your child follow his dream," she said. But with the loss of his scholarship for this semester, Clark — his parents decided — had to move home.

According to trend surveys and enrollment data released in October, living at home and other cost considerations are weighing more heavily on college choices.

In a survey conducted in September by online college admissions counseling service ApplyWise.com and media company NextStepU, only 11 percent of 137 responding parents said a college's reputation mattered, down from 17 percent in a similar survey two years ago. Nearly 34 percent of parents said two years of study at a community college, followed by transferring to a four-year school, is a likely option for their child, compared with only 13 percent in 2008.

Oklahoma data and observers underscore the trends.

Since the 2008 economic downturn, enrollment has jumped nearly 25 percent at Oklahoma City Community College and more than 21 percent at Rose State College, spokesmen said. Across community colleges statewide, enrollment is up 4.9 percent, or 3,711 students, since last fall, including a 10.8 percent jump at Redlands Community College in El Reno, according to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. Comparatively, enrollment at Oklahoma research universities grew only 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, price tags continue to rise and are as high as $55,000 a year at elite colleges and $28,000 for nonresidents at state universities, while college debt — for the 67 percent of students nationwide who carry it — averages $24,000 upon graduation, according to the Project on Student Debt report released last month. Totaling $850 billion nationally, student loan debt this summer surpassed total credit card debt for the first time.