When Connor Higgins was in the fifth grade, his parents began taking him on college tours with his older brother. Connor eventually fell in love with the University of Maryland, where he could study fire science at the College Park campus, at a perfect far-enough-but-not-too-far distance from his Springfield home.

But that was before his parents lost most of their savings in the stock market crash. College tuition didn’t get the memo and continued to skyrocket. Maryland’s out-of-state tuition, plus books and boarding expenses, total upward of $40,000 this year.