PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- In the second annual Futuretrust
Hopes & Dreams survey conducted nationwide by Harris Interactive(R),
Futuretrust set out, once again, to learn about the financial concerns and
goals of parents, how the current economic climate has affected their
financial decisions, and how their views on college costs might affect the
presidential election. Parents are struggling with rising gas and food
prices that cut into their monthly budgets. Students and parents seeking
loans not only have fewer lenders to choose from, but will be met with
higher rates and fees. With this wake up call making grim headlines, it is
not surprising that 57% of parents(1) say they feel helpless when it comes
to paying for college.
Consider these findings:
-- If the government offered a choice, 56% of parents would choose free
higher education for their children over universal health care (44%).
-- 74% of parents report that the current state of the economy has
affected some of the ways in which they budget their money.
-- 21% of parents have not begun saving for their child's education,
nor do they plan to. This number has increased by 5 percentage points since
2007!
-- 47% of parents who have not started saving for their child's college
education say that they do not have enough room in their budget to put
money away for college.
-- 38% of parents do not believe that any political party is best
prepared to effectively deal with the issues facing college funding.
-- 50% of parents say that the rising cost of food, gas and other daily
necessities is the greatest obstacle they face when saving for their
child's education.
-- 43% of parents do not put any of their monthly budget towards saving
for their child's college education while 54% of parents put at least 5% of
their budget towards dining out at restaurants each month.
-- Of those parents who have started saving for their child's
education, 71% began before their child turned 6 years old.
-- 63% of parents who are saving are not taking advantage of 529
college savings plans.
-- 72% of parents are worried that college debt will make their child's
life more difficult once they graduate and start working.
-- 88% agree that the cost of college is putting higher education out
of the reach of many Americans.
The Futuretrust "Hopes & Dreams" 2008 Survey was conducted online by
Harris Interactive between June 12, 2008 and June 16, 2008 among 2,134 U.S.
adults ages 18+, of whom 644 are parents/legal guardians or expectant
parents of a child or children likely to attend college in the future. This
online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no
estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. To learn more,
log onto http://www.futuretrust.com.
(1) For the purposes of this survey, "parents" are defined as U.S. adults
ages 18+ who are parents/legal guardians or expectant parents of a
child or children who are likely to attend college in the future.
Contact: Futuretrust blue sky communications
Judie Ashworth Linda Falcone or Erin Doyle
215-873-2283 212-995-1777
jashworth@motherswork.com linda@blueskypr.com,
erin@blueskypr.com
SOURCE Futuretrust
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Related links:
http://www.futuretrust.com
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/581877.html/
CONTACT:
Judie Ashworth for Futuretrust,
+1-215-873-2283, jashworth@motherswork.com; or Linda Falcone,
linda@blueskypr.com, or Erin Doyle, erin@blueskypr.com, both of
blue sky communications for Futuretrust, +1-212-995-1777
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