Most high-school students plan to attend college, yet they and their parents overestimate the cost by thousands of dollars and know little of financial aid, according to a report released earlier this month by the U.S. Education Department.

“Getting Ready for College,” a report by the National Center for Education Statistics, found that while the vast majority (91 percent) of students and parents report plans for higher education, they are generally unable to estimate with any accuracy the cost of college tuition.

When students and parents could offer estimates of tuition costs, they tended to overestimate, especially for public institutions. For example, in 1998-99, the average yearly in-state undergraduate tuition at public four-year colleges was approximately $3,200. However, students in grades 11 and 12 who planned on attending public four-year colleges and their parents estimated tuition to be between $5,400 and $5,800.

In response, the department has launched a Web site – http://www.studentaid.ed.gov/ – that offers hundreds of pages of student-aid information.

“Clearly, there is a real need for public information on college costs and financing. If the desire is there, so are the resources—through federal aid or tax credits that can help students realize their education goals, regardless of their family circumstances,” U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige said.

The new Web site provides students and parents with free, online tools to help them access information about higher education and learn the facts about its affordability. For example, the site offers:

• a student profile feature to assess career interests, highlight schools that offer degrees in those fields and offer job-search strategies
  
• a calculator to project education costs into the future and to develop a financing plan
• information about federal financial aid programs, tax credits and links to private scholarship sites
  
• an online federal financial aid application
  
• college admission application processes and standardized testing requirements for school admissions.
  
• a planning timeline to help students schedule their high-school courses to meet academic requirements for the college of their choice
  
• student and parent loan repayment options
  

The NCES report found that parents who sought information about financial aid availability were more likely than other parents to estimate tuition costs accurately. Similarly, if students talked with someone or read about financial aid, they were more likely to provide accurate estimates of tuition costs than other students.

“Getting Ready to Pay for College,” is available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2003030