Being able to afford their children’s college education is the number one financial concern of US parents, according to a Gallup poll released this week.
Gallup has conducted this survey since 2001, asking more than 16,000 Americans how much they worry about eight different financial matters, such as making enough money for retirement and maintaining their standard of living.
Over the past 15 years, retirement has been the number one overall worry of survey participants. Parents of minor children, those living in lower-income households, Hispanics, 30 to 49-year-olds, 50 to 64-year-olds and married women worry the most about their retirement savings.
Among parents of children below the age of 18, the cost of college is a more pressing concern (73 percent worried) than retirement (68 percent).
Source: Gallup
The degree of worry is also divided among annual household income level, with 85 percent of respondents with household earnings less than $30,000 worried about paying for their children’s college. In contrast, only 61 percent of respondents earning more than $100,000 are worried.
The gap not only reflects the sentiment of the most financially vulnerable, but also shows that student financial aid is not perceived to adequately cover the ever-increasing costs of college.
College more than quadrupled in cost in recent decades. | Source: New York Times
Our Take
The news comes on the heels of another Gallup survey reporting that Americans are mostly optimistic about their personal finances for the first time since the Great Recession.
Source: Gallup
There are plenty of reasons that people are optimistic about their finances: oil and by extension, gas, is at rock bottom; wages are climbing, albeit slowly; unemployment has fallen substantially. We’re in the midst of a substantial recovery, at least according to the numbers.
At the same time, surveys like this one help to illustrate why many families don’t feel like we’re out of the woods yet. Economic data is fascinating to look at, but its real world value is extremely difficult to interpret.
As study after study proves how vital it is to actually go to college, the costs of doing so increasingly intrude into the peripheries of every day American life. That, in turn, exaggerates social phenomena like income inequality, which is poised to become a major part of the 2016 presidential campaign.
What are your top financial concerns? Let us know below in the comments below or reach out on Facebook.
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