College Costs: The True Cost of Repeating a Course

College is expensive. Duh. Your parents have told you, your guidance counselor has told you, your own research has told you. A college education is a huge investment that can be comparable in price to a starter home. With a price tag that big, even small setbacks can cost big bucks.

The average cost for public college tuition is more than $9,000 a year. If you estimate that tuition is based on 15 credit hours, each credit hour costs more than $600. If you fail one course, you’re wasting $1,800+. Not to mention a failed course can seriously damage your GPA, causing you to lose out on merit-based scholarships. If it’s a course you have to take to graduate, you can tack on another couple hundred bucks for new supplies and the newest version of the textbook when you retake the class.

You can avoid this costly complication by addressing problems in a course early on. If you’re struggling to understand the material or keep up with the work, talk to your professor AND visit your campus tutoring center. There’s a chance that one of the tutors has also recently taken that course. If you’ve been sick and missed a lot of class, explain that to your professor and see what your options are. You may get a second chance to make up the missed work, or you may not. Either way, it’s worth asking.