(BLACK PR WIRE/FAMU-TALLAHASSEE) – Can black students continue to make themselves marketable? “The number of African-American students attending college has been steadily rising, doubling in the past 30 years to almost 2 million,” reported Kim Clark, of U.S. News & World Report, in an article written in February 2009.

The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities announced new affordability initiatives for the 2009-2010 academic year. Many of these “affordability initiatives” included tuition increases. For example, Boston College reported a 2.8 percent increase, although it will be the school’s “smallest tuition increase in 25 years,” according to the NAICU website. At the end of the day, for tuition payers, it’s still an increase.

Are there ways around high tuition costs? One reality may be that students have to stay in their hometowns and states. Public schools, funded by the state, offer lower tuition for in-state residents attending the school. Combine the lower tuition rate for staying at home with scholarships, grants and loans, and you may have found a recipe for success.

A Florida State University graduate student was recently faced with this dilemma. “I had to choose between staying home or going to the graduate program I really wanted to attend,” said Alexandra Bethel, 21, of Miramar, FL. “It came down to $2,780 a semester at FSU, or $9,440 at the University of Georgia. At the end of the day the decision wasn’t rocket science.”