How Much College Costs (and Why It's Still Worth It)

 

With the average cost of college steadily rising every year, many people may wonder if the hefty price tag is still worth it. Will you get a return on your investment if you put in all the time, effort, and money? As much of the research still shows, in most cases, going to college will still pay off in the long run.

Average Cost of Tuition 

Typical costs vary widely by type of institution. According to the College Board, the average cost of college tuition and fees (which may include the library, campus transportation, student government, and athletic facilities) for the 2020-2021 school year was $37,650 at private colleges, $10,560 for state residents at public colleges, and $27,020 for out-of-state residents attending public universities.1

These numbers do not include housing, meals, textbooks, or school supplies which could easily tack on another $10,000 to $18,000 a year. Multiply those numbers by four years of college, and you are looking at a hefty college bill. It’s no wonder that student debt levels topped $1.5 trillion in 2020.2

Average Cost of College by Type of School
	Public 2-Year (In-District)	Public 4-Year (In-State)	Public 4-Year (Out-of-State)	Private 4-Year
Tuition	$3,770	$10,560	$27,020	$37,650
Room and Board	$9,080	$11,620	$11,620	$13,120
Total	$12,850	$22,180	$38,640	$50,770

Source: College Board, "Trends on College Pricing and Student Aid 2020"

Why a College Degree Is Still Worth It 

Footing the college bill can be a tough pill to swallow when you look around and see many graduates struggling to find work. Still, the data largely supports the fact that college will be worth it for most students.

The Pay Gap 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the pay gap between those with a four-year degree and those with a high school degree is still significant. Those with a four-year college degree earn a median weekly salary of $1,305, whereas employees with a high school degree average $781. The difference is even higher when comparing employees with doctoral degrees with those with some or no college degree.3

Average Salary and Unemployment by Degree Level
Degree Level	Average Weekly Salary	Unemployment Rate
Less than high school	$619	11.7%
High school diploma	$781	9%
Some college, no degree	$877	8.3%
Associate degree	$938	7.1%
Bachelor's degree	$1,305	5.5%
Master's degree	$1,545	4.1%
Professional degree	$1,893	3.1%
Doctoral degree	$1,885	2.5%

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (Current as of April 21, 2021

)

The Lifetime Earnings Gap 

As you can see, this gap is further widened by the fact that the lower your degree, the more likely you are to be unemployed. Given higher unemployment rates and annual salaries, it's no surprise that these numbers can add up to significant differences in the long run. In fact, not going to college could cost you dearly, to the tune of $1 million in lifetime wages, according to a Georgetown University study.4

The Long-term Financial Impact of a Degree 

It's not just about going to college or not, though. The degree you choose also has a significant long-term financial impact. The same Georgetown study revealed a gap of $3.4 million in lifetime earnings between the highest- and lowest-earning majors. The top-paying majors unsurprisingly include STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), health, and business. The majors with the lowest median earnings are in education, the arts, and social work.4

Average Annual Earnings Examples for Various Degrees
Degree	Average entry-level salary	Average mid-career salary
Computer science	$62,000	$95,000
Finance	$52,000	$85,000
Business	$45,000	$70,000
Marketing	$42,000	$74,000
Secondary Education	$38,000	$50,000
Philosophy	$36,000	$62,000

Source: The College Board. "Education Pays 2019" 

Of course, there are a lot of choices and a range of potential earnings for every degree. Our economy needs teachers and engineers. We need social workers just as we need accountants. It’s easy to obsess over what major could make you the most money, but it’s more important to find something that you enjoy in a field in which you can excel.

In the current digital economy, the future of work is changing fast and one thing that emerges is that despite specialties and core areas of learning, some fields are fusing. A competitive candidate is one who is curious to learn, and that may mean intersecting technology with finance, business with social studies, and math with psychology. A lot of success happens in these intersections.

Useful Online Tools 

There are many helpful resources online that can guide you in your decisions about your education. These include:

• A state-by-state comparison of the average costs of private and public colleges from the National Center for Education Statistics
• A college savings calculator that you can use to plan ahead and save for the costs of college
• Georgetown University's study comparing the value of different college majors
• Reviews of some of the best value collegesout there

The Bottom Line 

Before you decide that the price tag on college is too high, be sure to look at what the statistics show. The financial benefits of college, on average, far outweigh the immediate costs. Compare the costs of college vs. work after high school, too, before making any decisions. If you are concerned about saving for college, check with a financial advisor to discuss a college savings strategy.

FUTA admission list, 2021/2022 out on JAMB CAPS

 Federal University of Technology Akure Admission List for 2021/2022  academic session has been released. This is to inform all candidates who participated in the 2021/2022 Post-UTME that they can proceed to check if their names are on the Provisional Admission list of successful candidates

The list of admitted candidates has been uploaded online via JAMB CAPS Candidates are to follow the procedure below to check;

How To Check the List on JAMB CAPS

• Visit: https://www.jamb.gov.ng/Efacility and login with your registered email address and password to access your dashboard
• Click on ‘Check Admission Status,
• Click on ‘Access my CAPS’
• Click on 'Admission Status' to see if you have been offered admission.

Candidates who have been offered admission are to proceed to click"ACCEPT" or "REJECT" to indicate acceptance or rejection of the admission offer.

For those whose status is showing "Admission Still in Progress" or "Not Admitted", you are advised to keep checking as the status may change anytime soon.

NB : Clicking"REJECT" is an indication that the offer of admission has been rejected by candidates

Congratulations to the admitted ones!!!

Insurance:How to Get Cheaper Car Insurance at Your Finger Tips

Insurance:How to Get Cheaper Car Insurance at Your Finger Tips

Saving money on your car insurance is easy and quick, but many people still fail to do it.

The mistake most drivers make is not taking the simple step of shopping around for the best premium. Instead they just accept their insurer’s renewal quote, which is likely to be much higher.

The good news is that comparing car insurance is simple and easy and you can find the best price in less than five minutes.

You can then compare the quality of the policy and have a idea of the best price to negotiate with your existing insurer, if you want to stay put.

There are a handful of ways to help reduce your car insurance costs? Whether you are male or female, old or young, follow our ten steps to lower premiums.

The quick way and easy to save on car insurance

We list our ten tips to find the best car insurance deal below – but for a quick money-saver, you can also use our carefully chosen quick comparison engine powered by MoneySupermarket with the link below.

> Compare car insurance from more than 130 insurers

Motoring costs: Use our ten-step plan to lower your car insurance costs

1. Shop around for the best car insurance

This is the number one way to save on car insurance. Savings of hundreds of pounds can be found if you shop around when you renew your cover.

Be careful though. When shopping around for car insurance, it’s important to make sure that you are comparing like-for-like cover. Some policies may seem cheaper, but you may find you don’t have the same level of cover when you have to make a claim.

Use an online comparison service to do the hard work for you. Put in your details and check the prices that come up. You can alter the excess that you are willing to pay and the mileage you will drive and get new quotes.

Try This is Money’s car insurance search powered by MoneySupermarket here – it will search more than 130 insurers for you, remember your details for next year and remind you when it is time to renew.

Also check the insurers that don’t feature in comparison sites, the big two are Direct Line and Aviva. It is also worth checking Admiral separately for its Multicar offers if you are looking to insure more than one vehicle.

Other car insurance comparison options include Confused.com, GoCompare, and ComparetheMarket

If you’ve been happy with the cover your existing provider has given until now but are unhappy with their renewal quote, let them know the best offer you have received from a rival insurer and ask them to at least match it. Comparing prices is essential to finding this information.

BLACK BOX TECHNOLOGY CUT MY PREMIUMS BY £800

Boxing clever: Laura Keely’s premium has been slashed

All drivers, especially the youngest, can also grab themselves potentially much cheaper car insurance by opting for a blackbox policy (also know as telematics policy) – these monitor your driving and reward those who are careful and don’t get behind the wheel at dangerous times.

Laura Keely, right, opted to have a black box installed in the dashboard of her Vauxhall Corsa provided by Insurethebox.

Previously, she paid £1,800 for a comprehensive policy. Twelve months on, her premiums dropped to just £1,000 — a 44 per cent fall.

2. Don’t put everyone on your policy

Ensure that only regular drivers are named on the policy. You can always add someone for a few days when they really need to drive the car. 

3. Protect that no-claims bonus

A long no-claims bonus is the single best way of cutting car insurance costs, so protect it.

This may increase the premium by a few pounds, but this fades into insignificance against the potential loss of a 90 per cent discount on a premium of several hundred pounds.

But the definition of a protected no-claims bonus can vary widely between insurers.

Though accidents caused by another driver will normally have no impact on such a bonus, those caused by the insured could. The key is to always check the policy carefully.

4. Increase your voluntary excess

Agreeing to pay more towards the cost of any accident repairs will bring down premiums. If you are not at fault in an accident, the excess can be recovered. Beware being tempted to allow it to rise too high, however, especially if you have a lower value car.

5. Secure your car

Fitting an approved alarm, immobiliser or tracking device can attract a discount of around 5 per cent. Many newer cars will come with these as standard, so make sure you check if you have them and then declare them.

EXTRA TRICKS TO CUT THE CAR INSURANCE BURDEN

Don’t forget to haggle! The car insurance market is notoriously competitive. Once you’ve been on This Is Money’s comparison and found your cheapest price (below), get on the phone and start bargaining!

Avoid paying monthly charges: Direct debit instalments generally come hand-in-hand with high interest rates.

Think outside the box: An accelerated no-claims bonus, such as the Bonus Accelerator from Admiral, could give you a year’s no claims bonus after just 10 months.

Named drivers and friends and family: If you have previously been insured as an additional driver on another policy, see if you can transfer a no claims bonus to your own insurance coverage.

Some insurers do this, including The AA and Direct Line  .Try for a discount by insuring two or more vehicles between friends or family members with the same firm.

No claims discount: It could be worth paying extra to protect yours

6. Do fewer miles

Reduced mileage equates to a greater saving.

For example, a reduction in annual mileage of 5,000 miles could save a typical 35-year-old driver about £50 a year in premiums.

A cut of 10,000 miles a year could save more than £100.

But you must be honest about your annual mileage, as inaccuracy will jeopardise any claim.

Check your use cover – if you don’t use your car to drive to work or for business – both things that increase your premium – you may be able to get a cheaper rate.

7. Think carefully about adding young drivers

Adding a young, inexperienced driver to your policy can be a false economy, especially if you have a large or higher powered vehicle.

The premium will still be affected by the youngest driver and he or she may not have a no-claims bonus. Insurers have also been cracking down on fronting, where parents insure cars in their name for children to cut costs, so make sure if you are the policyholder on a car driven by your children that you are actually its main driver, or that you declare otherwise.

8. Watch out for insurance trap cars

If you decide to change your car, check with your insurer if the model will have a significant effect on the premium.

Sporty cars can attract a high premium and often a slightly different model or smaller engine can make a big difference in your favour. It will also probably save you on petrol too!

Be aware that Insurers will try to include administration fees for changes to a policy mid-term. This fee, usually between £25 and £50, will be added if you change a vehicle or your home address.

However, you can ask for the fee to be waived if it is a minor adaptation, such as changing to a personalised registration number.

9. Remember what the garage is for

If your garage is full of junk, clear it out and use it for your car.

Insurers like cars kept in garages overnight and this can dramatically cut your premium.

Aside from the benefit of not having to scrape the ice off in winter, there is a higher risk of theft by keeping the car on the road, so keeping it in the garage will be reflected in your premium.

10. Be a better driver and sign up to a blackbox

Blackbox policies, where the insurer installs a system in your car to monitor your driving, reward those who drive carefully.

Officially called telematics, these check your speed, how aggressive you accelerate and brake and how cautiously you drive, and also whether you are on the road at perceived dangerous times – i.e. the early hours of the morning.

They can cut premiums substantially once you start proving you are a good driver. The biggest win is for those whose premiums are high, especially young drivers.

Some insurers even offer an up front discount if you take out a telematics policy.

Women and cheaper insurance

The EU ruled that finance companies can no longer consider your gender when deciding what to charge you.

This was triggered by a European Court of Justice ruling on a challenge by a Belgian consumer group. Its case was that the exemption for insurers contradicted the principle of gender equality.

The ban came into force on 21 December 2012, after fierce campaign for UK firms which argued that they were not discriminating between the sexes — but instead were basing their prices on statistics.

Their argument was that as women live longer they pay less for life insurance, and get cheaper car cover because they have fewer accidents. The move to so-called gender-neutral pricing will affect premiums for all types of insurance — including car, life, private medical and income cover.

Despite this, there is still a significant difference between the prices paid by by male and female drivers on average, which is currently almost £100.

How to Connect with Today’s Insurance Switchers

In 2019, an estimated 28.3 million customers across four major insurers—GEICO, Progressive, State Farm and Allstate—are planning to switch insurance companies. These individuals represent a massive opportunity for challenger insurance brands to acquire new policy holders, provided they’re able to connect in a meaningful way with these individuals during their vital time of decision-making. 

So how do you connect with today’s insurance switchers? Well, you start with an understanding of the individuals you intend to engage. As discussed in this recent post, part of this understanding should include why a given insurance companies’ customers are most likely to be switching. But it goes even deeper than that. To hone your messaging, you need insights into their motivations, their values and even their day-to-day activities and hobbies.

That’s where Resonate comes in. Our real-time consumer intelligence platform gives you access to the largest proprietary understanding of U.S. consumers’ habits, preferences, purchase drivers and more. For example, when you look across the customers currently seeking to replace their existing GEICO, Progressive, State Farm or Allstate policies, you find distinct differences in their preferred forms of entertainment—differences that can inform the messaging and cross-promotions that a company employs when trying to reach these groups. For example:

• Both GEICO and Progressive switchers (audiences of 8.3 million and 4.2. million consumers, respectively) cite going to the movies and enjoying music as their top two forms of entertainment.
• State Farm switchers (a population of 9.2 million consumers), on the other hand, are more likely to cite apparel shopping as their preferred form of entertainment.
• Meanwhile, Allstate shoppers (6.6 million consumers) are most likely to cite art and photography as their preferred methods of entertainment.

With these distinctions in mind, insurance marketers would be well-served to target GEICO and Progressive switchers via messaging and partnerships that tap into their love of movies and music, while State Farm switchers are more likely to connect with messaging and promotions that tie into their love of fashion and shopping. Meanwhile, messages and promotions tied to a love of photography and the arts are most likely to resonate with Allstate switchers.

Costs in the Insurance Industry Today

In this article we will provide you with data on the listed insurance companies across the world. We will show that the costs that occur for standard insurance companies that Black would almost eliminate, are quite significant. We have gathered financial data from various international and Estonian insurance companies between 2013 and 2016. The data shows that administrative expenses are quite high in the industry, thus there is a lot of cost cutting possible. It also becomes clear that smaller insurance companies would be first to fall, as their administrative expenses are relatively high to their gross written premiums.

Insurance companies have costs for admin expenses and net profit of Gross Written Premium. The industry average is 20%.

This is calculated by taking the average sum of the admin and net profit margins data of insurance companies provided below.

Administrative expenses

Administrative expenses are mostly related to personnel and office expenses. Whereas most companies provide many types of insurance, we divided companies into two groups: multi-line and life/health insurance. The first group has companies which provide various insurance products, the other group contains companies that mostly focus on life or health insurance.

As for administrative expenses, in multi-line insurance companies, these expenses make up 10% of GWP on average. It is estimated that for Black those costs would be around 5%.

For life and health insurance companies, the result is the same, as administrative expenses make up 12% of gross written premiums.

The contrast is quite significant when comparing to the industry’s smaller players. In Estonia, administrative expenses amount to 19% of gross written premiums. Consider that gross written premiums amount to c. EUR 490m in Estonia. That indicates that even small percentages of cost cutting can have an enormous effect on any company.

Net margins of the insurance industry’s players

To give a wider picture of the current insurance market, consider the net profit margins of the listed insurance companies. Net margins vary quite significantly between multi-line insurance companies, but none of the peers turned a loss in 2016. The average net margin for the selection of insurance companies is 4.2%.

Margins are slightly higher for insurance companies that focus on life and health insurance, as the net margins for the peers stands at 6.1%.

In Estonia, insurance companies manage to be quite profitable, as the average net margin stands at 8.8% for them. It has to be noted though, that Swedbank and SEB are outliers in this case