Post-Secondary Costs
GRADE 8 LESSON 15
Time Required: 30-45 minutes
Content Standards:
AA.S.2
Students will complete school with the academic rigor and
preparation essential to choose from a wide range of
substantial postsecondary options, including college.
AA.S.4
Students will acquire skills to investigate the world of
work in relation to knowledge of self and to make
informed career decisions.
Indicators:
AA.A.8.2.15
AA.C.8.4.15
Explore the cost associated with postsecondary options.
Explore costs related to postsecondary education.
GOAL: Students will review post-secondary cost.
Activity Statements:
Students will receive information about the cost of various post secondary education options.
Then students will use scenarios given to them about high school seniors looking for sources to
fund their postsecondary education choices. Using these scenarios they will have to seek and
find all of the available sources to fund their postsecondary education, while other students will
be representing the various sources.
Materials:
Whiteboard or LCD data projector
Instructor Resource #1 Education & Training Cost
Instructor Resource #2 Sources to Finance Your Post-Secondary Cost
Instructor Resource #3 Student Scenarios
Handout #1 Education & Training Cost
Handout #2 Sources to Finance Your Post-Secondary Cost
Post-Secondary Costs
GRADE 8 LESSON 15
Procedures:
Say: Today we are going to discover the cost of various postsecondary education
options and then we will do an activity to help us learn about the different
funding sources available to cover these costs.
Ask to students to guess the cost attending a vocational or technical school, a
community college, a 4 year college and a private college.
Show Instructor Resource #1 Education and Training Cost
Pass out Handout #1 Education and Training Cost
Pass out Handout #2 Sources to Finance Your Postsecondary Costs
Pick one student to represent each of the 7 total sources and sit them spread out
in the classroom with their copy of Handout #2 with them. Assign each student as
one of the sources of funding listed on Handout #2. Instruct them as students
approach them for funding they have to secure that the student meets their
criteria to receive funding from them. Then they are to award the funding by
entering the amount they can award on the student scenario form.
Divide the rest of the students into groups of 4 and give each student in each
group one of the student scenarios.
Instruct each of the students that they are pretending to be the student in their
scenario and they are to visit each of the 7 sources of funding to determine what
sources of funding they are eligible to receive. Once they have visited all 7
sources they are to return to their group and complete the rest of the chart. Then
have each member of the group read their scenario and funding sources they
were eligible for to the rest of their group.
Post-Secondary Costs
GRADE 8 LESSON 15
Discussion:
1. What did you learn today about the cost of different postsecondary education
choices?
2. What did you learn today about the available funding sources for your postsecondary
education options?
3. Did anyone learn new information today, if so what did you learn?
4. How is today’s information important to your future?
5. What can you start doing now to make resources available to you in your future?
Additional Resources:
www.wvmentor.org
Extension Activities:
Instruct students to go to www.wvmentor.org to look up the specific school in West Virginia
they are interested in attending and find the current cost.
Resource or Adapted from:
http://missouricareereducation.org/curr/cmd/guidanceplacementG/elearning
Grade 9 Unit 1 Lesson 1