With more colleges costing over $100,000 a year, only 12% of Americans consider 4-year colleges affordable, according to a Lumina Foundation and Gallup poll of 14,000 adults. Nearly half of families borrowed money for the 2025-26 academic year, while college savings declined from $51,310 to $37,897 year-over-year. Just 16% of families who saved for college felt prepared to cover total costs through savings alone, down from 27% a year earlier. Tuition is currently rising about 5.5% annually, outpacing inflation and wage growth, compared to a historical rate of around 3% per year. New federal borrowing caps from recent legislation have found support among 66% of surveyed families.
Source: Read the original article
