WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Nearly nine in ten U.S. 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 U.S. families spent nationwide in the 2016-17 school year for college was 23,757 dollars, the survey shows.
However, for U.S. 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.
U.S. parents needn't pay every dime for the college bill, whose largest chunk, as many as 8,390 dollars on the average, came from variously 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, U.S. 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 U.S. 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 from 18 to 24.
