Waitlisted Students Choose Less-Pricey Colleges

BOSTON -- Waitlisted students are no longer thinking about if their top college pick will call. They are wondering if they'll say yes.

NewsCenter 5's Bianca de la Garza reported Wednesday that tough economic times have students rethinking high priced schools.

VIDEO: Waitlisted Students Choose Less-Pricey Colleges

Demographics this year had more students than ever applying to schools, and schools with the same number of slots to fill were in no rush to fill the slots.

Westford Academy guidance counselor Marc Lucey saw the students' stress.

"They are terrified," he said.

Now, it's the colleges that are getting jittery. Summer is typically a shuffling time as schools and kids make final choices. Colleges know kids have multiple deposits down.

New reports show that because of the slumping economy, waitlisted students are passing on high-priced colleges, opting for more affordable schools.

Cambridge College counselor and former dean of admissions Anna Ivey said families should be thinking long and hard about how much they are borrowing.

"People who are majoring in teaching, well, how are you going to pay $200,000 in loans on an elementary teacher salary?" Ivey said.

Ivey said as painful as it may be, doing soul searching into spending $50,000 a year on school is healthy and probably something that should have happened earlier in the process.