College students are increasingly turning to crowdfunding to help cover their education expenses, according to new data from the fundraising platform GoFundMe. GoFundMe fundraisers for tuition money are up more than 50% compared to last year, and both college and trade school fundraising are up 30%, a GoFundMe spokesperson said.
The rise in students seeking donations comes as the cost of higher education is in the national spotlight. The U.S. Supreme Court this week heard arguments in two cases involving President Joe Biden’s stalled student-loan cancellation plan, which could help an estimated 40 million borrowers erase up to $20,000 each in student-loan debt. The average published price for tuition, fees, room and board at a four-year private college is $53,430 for the 2022-23 school year, up from $51,690 in 2021-22, according to the College Board’s Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid report. Tuition and fees at four-year private colleges are 4.5 times higher than they were in 1992-93. For in-state students at public four-year universities, the average published tuition, fees, room and board for 2022-23 is $23,520, up from $22,700 in the previous year. Changes in the published price, or sticker price, “tend to garner the most media attention,” the College Board said in its report. “However, it is important to note that the majority of undergraduate students do not pay the full sticker price.” College tuition hasn’t risen as fast as other prices amid roaring inflation, but …