Meanwhile, Massachusetts parents are increasingly choosing lower-cost public colleges and universities over private institutions; asking children to pay more toward their educations; and having them live at home and commute to classes.
“Data year after year shows that families take saving more seriously,’’ said Thomas Graf, executive director of the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, which helps families pay for college. “This survey helped us see a better way to get people to save for college by understanding the pressures families have and how people respond to those pressures.’’
The authority and Fidelity have conducted the survey annually over the past five years to assess how prepared families are to cover college costs.
Parents here and nationally have lost ground since 2007, when Massachusetts parents were projected to be able to cover 29 percent of college costs, and families nationwide about 24 percent. A struggling economy and tumbling stock market played a role in the declines, but rising costs also contributed.
Last year, average tuition and fees ranged from $2,713 per year at public two-year colleges to $33,679 at private research institutions, according to the College Board, a not-for-profit college information organization that administers the SAT tests.
This year in Boston, the most expensive schools are Boston University, with tuition and other charges totaling more than $54,000, and Northeastern University, where they top $51,000.
Nearly half of Massachusetts parents who answered the survey said they would encourage their children to attend public universities or colleges, up from less than 30 percent in 2007, according to the survey. About half the parents said they would have their children live at home and commute to school, up from about one-third in 2007.
At the University of Massachusetts Boston, which is largely a commuter school, undergraduate enrollment has increased 20 percent to about 12,000 over the past four years, said Kathleen Teehan, vice chancellor. In-state tuition and fees for commuter students total about $11,000.
