LOOK: This Chart Will Freak Out Every Mom And Dad In America : How College Costs Are Skyrocketing Out Of Middle-Class America's Reach (In 1 Chart)

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Over the past three decades, the inflation-adjusted income of the median American family has basically remained stagnant. The same can’t be said of college costs, which have simultaneously surged to almost unrecognizable heights, according to a new report by the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

Costs at private nonprofit four-year colleges have increased by more than 150 percent since 1982, but the real trouble is at four-year public schools, where inflation-adjusted costs have experienced a startling 250 percent jump.

It’s not so difficult to understand how this puts families in a bind. As of 2011, only half of American households could claim an income of more than $50,000, according to the U.S. Census -- a number low enough to make paying for a child’s college education appear more dream than reality. READ More...