Teens (and their parents) spending hundreds on college

From paying for a designer dress to leasing a fancy limo, teens (and their parents) are shouldering hundreds or even thousands of dollars this college season. An average of, families expect you'll spend $1, 139 on college this year -- up roughly 40% from 2011's $807 average and a slight increase from last year, according to a Visa survey. Families in the Northeast expect you'll pay the most, an average of $1, 528, while Midwestern families were the most economical, at an average of $722, according to the survey greater than 1, 000 parents of graduation-aged teens.


With traditions like debutante golf balls falling out in clumps of fashion and young people engaged and getting married later in life, college has exploded in importance and the wonderful are willing to spend more on the big night, said Kit Yarrow, a consumer research psycho therapist dresses for graduation. "graduation is the new wedding, inch Yarrow said. "I think that every society has to have a rite of passage into adulthood for young people, and college has become that. inch The increase in college spending is also being driven by the popularity of photo-oriented sites like Facebook and Instagram, she said. college is "a post-able moment" which has enhanced the pressure around appearances.


While parents still foot a majority of the bill, teens pay for about 41% of the costs, Visa's survey found. Related: I had 10 jobs before age 25 Dorothy Hoffer, an 18-year-old senior at Webster Groves High school in Saint. Louis, saved roughly a month's worth of pay from her job at a local car wash to help pay for her college. Her biggest expense was a $259 vintage-inspired dress that she chop down fond of online. Her mother, Martha Valenta, agreed to pay for an additional $220 in alterations. "The dress was real drama, inch said Valenta, who used a borrowed dress to her own college. "I don't recall that ever in my youth. inch.