Survey: Most US families have no plan for college bills in advance

Nearly nine in ten US families always knew their child

would go to college, but fewer than four in ten families ever created a

plan for how to pay the bills, according to How America Pays for College

2017 report.

The average amount US families spent nationwide in the 2016-17 school year for college was 23,757 dollars, the survey shows.

However,

for US parents, it seems that saving money for college is not the last

solution, since searching for scholarships and studying what is

affordable can be tackled at any time, said a USA daily report Sunday.

US

parents needn't pay every dime for the college bill, whose largest

chunk, as many as 8,390 dollars on the average, came from various

scholarships and grants.

American parents only

contributed 5,527 dollars from their own savings and income, while

students ponied up 2,569 dollars from their savings and income.

As

for borrowing, US parents on average borrowed 1,819 dollars for the

2016-17 school year and students borrowed 4,551 dollars. The rest of the

money, less than 1,000 dollars, came from friends and relatives.

However,

69 percent of the US families surveyed said they had eliminated some

colleges due to cost, up from some 58 percent in 2008.

The

survey report, released by Sallie Mae and Ipsos, is based on a

telephone survey of 800 parents and 800 undergraduate students ages 18

to 24.