Many Families Don’t Consider the Full Cost When Saving for College, Study Finds

Many parents fail to consider the full cost of college attendance when making plans to pay for their children’s higher education, leaving them on track to attain just a fraction of their savings goals, according to the results of a study released on Wednesday by Fidelity Investments. The sixth annual study found that only 31 percent of parents with college-bound children took the full cost of attendance into account. On average, the study found that parents planned to pay 57 percent of their children’s college costs, but the typical family will meet only 30 percent of those costs. Forty-two percent of parents with children already in college or starting college this fall have also encouraged their children to select a particular major in the hope that it might lead to a higher-paying job after graduation, the study found.