Uncertainty and potential recession drive financial concerns for parents (2022 Parent Survey)

According to the survey, over half of parents believe their ability to pay for college has not improved over last year; fears of uncertainty and potential recession drive financial concern for parents. And, most parents with kids aged 16-18 planning to go to college are worried about paying for their child’s education. 

Factors contributing to feelings of financial concerns

Parents selected multiple key reasons as contributing factors:

How parents plan to help pay for college

Survey results show that most families have not saved enough for college. Half of parents have $15,000 or less saved for their child’s education and nearly a third of parents (32%) feel they did not start saving early enough. 

Of parents planning to help pay for college

Parents selected multiple ways to pay for college: 41% aim to take out student loans, and 43% will dip into their savings. The number of parents intending to fund the child’s education through scholarships is 54%.

Discover Student Loans helps families prepare for college

Searching and applying for scholarships is a critical part of the college application process. They can help reduce the cost of college and do not need to be repaid. Discover Student Loans offers a free scholarship search tool as well as an assortment of student loan calculators and tools that can help you compare financial aid packages, prepare a budget, plan your college finances, and more. 

About the survey

^{All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from a Dynata (formerly Research Now/SSI) survey conducted on behalf of Discover Financial Services. The survey was conducted online and fielded by Dynata with a total sample size of 1,000 parents of children ages 16-18 who plan on attending college or trade school. The margin of sampling error was 3 percentage points with a +/-5 percent level of confidence.}