WV's low college-going rate

I'm having trouble pasting stuff. Let's just say this computer is having user problems.

There was some talk at today's editorial board meeting about West Virginia's low college-going rate among high school graduates. Here is some information that would explain a lot of that. If you don't want to follow the link, here is the pertinent information, from Page 9 of the 16-page report that is a PDF file:

West Virginia families in the 40% of the population with the lowest incomes earn on average $15,862 each year. If a student from such a family were to attend a public four-year college in-state, their net cost to attend college (tuition, room and board minus financial aid received) would equal 45 percent of that family's income.

I would really like to know how many families experience sticker shock when they're planning how much it will cost to send their kids to college. I get that feeling once a year when I walk through the Marshall book store and look at textbook prices.

Marshall's enrollment is down a bit this year. You can attribute some of that to cuts in Promise scholarship money, concerns about crime in Huntington or increased academic standards making it harder for some students to get in. But I wonder -- in a state like West Virginia -- how much the ever-increasing cost of going to college plays into this.

If anyone can point me to someone who can talk to me about this, please do so.