How the Rising Cost of College Is Changing Families’ Calculus

大学学费不断攀升如何改变家庭的算计

WSJ What’s News

2025-08-24

13 分钟
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单集简介 ...

Rounding out our week looking at the finances of parenting, we’re looking at one of the biggest costs families can face: college. About 18 million students enrolled in post-secondary education this spring. That’s up from last year. And so is the price of tuition. Sandra Kilhof spoke to Journal reporter Oyin Adedoyin about how the skyrocketing cost of college is weighing on kids and parents’ decisions, and might even change what school they pick. Sabrina Siddiqui hosts. Further Reading The Price of Parenting  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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单集文稿 ...

  • Hey, What's News listeners, it's Sunday, August 24th.

  • I'm Sabrina Siddiqui for The Wall Street Journal.

  • This is What's News Sunday,

  • the show where we tackle the big questions about the biggest stories in the news by reaching out to our colleagues across the newsroom to help explain what's happening in our world.

  • On today's show, we're breaking down one of the trickiest financial decisions parents face in 2025.

  • Over this past week, the Journal's been looking at the cost of parenthood,

  • and through a range of interviews,

  • we've explored everything from fertility costs to the everyday budgets of new parents.

  • To wrap things up, our supervising producer, Sandra Kilhoff,

  • spoke to Journal reporter Oyun Aradoyan about how the skyrocketing cost of college is weighing on kids' and parents' decisions,

  • and might even change what school they pick.

  • Take a listen.

  • So, Oyen, firstly, just please set the stage for us here.

  • How many Americans actually go to college and how expensive has it gotten in these days?

  • Millions of students enroll in college every year.

  • I think the latest numbers were, you know,

  • about 18 million students enrolled in post-secondary education this spring.

  • And that's up 3.2 percent compared to the same time last year.

  • So, you know, that.

  • sets the stage for a pretty competitive landscape.