Could you use an additional $256,000?*

by Dave Adams
That’s the amount you can expect to earn on an investment by the time you retire if you invest the money you save by taking the first two years of your bachelor’s degree at Oakland Community College, and the second two years at a public, four-year Michigan university. The potential return is even greater if you choose to attend a private institution for your bachelor’s degree.
At OCC, your first two years of college would cost $3,465, based on 62 credit hours of in-district tuition at $51.70 per credit hour, a $10 per semester technology fee and a $25 per semester registration fee. Transportation, textbooks, and room and board are not included.
You do the math...if you average the tuition for the four universities shown in the graph below, you’ll come up with $11,521.34...versus OCC’s $3,465 for the same amount of credits. It’s a difference of more than $8,000. So you can take that $8,000, tuck it carefully in a Roth IRA or some other investment that’s tax-free until you retire, then watch your investment grow.
 

Comparison of annual OCC tuition and fees with Michigan universities
(Source-MSU, OU, WSU and WMU web sites, 9/2003. Transportation, textbooks, and room and board are not included.)

* Note: This number represents the earning on a total of $8,000 invested tax-free at 8 percent for 45 years.