Tuition is going to increase by $800 in the fall. Sadly, this is not surprising. Tuition has increased by about that much for the past several years.

Students who began at Linfield in the fall of 2015 paid $19,150 in tuition for each semester.

Tuition costs rose to $19,850 in 2016; $20,550 in 2017 and next year we will pay $21,350 per semester.

Four years at the 2015-16 rate would have totaled $153,200. The cost with these yearly increases will be $161,800, an $8,600 difference that doesn’t take into account increases in housing costs, the meal plan, and other fees.

What does this mean for students? Realistically it means that we will be paying off student loans for a while longer than we would have otherwise.

I doubt any students are going to switch schools.

They don’t mean to have us over a barrel, yet here we are. It is an unfortunate situation, but the school is not actually trying to gouge us.

There is declining enrollment and keeping the school running costs what it costs. Luckily for us, Linfield is generous with financial aid. Nobody is actually going to be paying $161,800.

As a rule students, are pretty frugal. If we need to save money for something we will figure out a way to do so.

We will stretch our dollars, work more hours, and hawk our old stuff on sites like Ebay, Craigslist, OfferUp and LetGo.

I know I am already looking forward to sending in that final student loan payment in 2035.