Those with incomes up to $30,000 have no discretionary income to put towards college costs, yet they are expected to pay on average $6,057 per year to attend a two-year college and $9,310 to attend a public four-year college. For stu-dents with family incomes between $30,001 and $48,000, two-year college costs require about a third (32%) of discretionary income, and four-year college costs require more than half (53%) of their discretionary income.