TheStreet’s J.D. Durkin brings the latest business headlines from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as markets open for trading Thursday, March 28.
FULL VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
J.D. Durkin: I’m J.D. Durkin - reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching today on TheStreet.
Today marks the final trading day of the month, and all three major indexes are on pace to finish both the month and the first quarter of 2024 in positive territory. Markets will be closed on March 29 for Good Friday, but investors will be keeping on eye out for the latest PCE report, which the Federal Reserve pays closest attention to when deciding its path forward on interest rates.
In other news - the cost of attending some of the country’s most well-known New England colleges and universities is at an all-time high. Yale, Tufts, Boston University, and Wellesley College are some of the schools that will now cost more than $90,000 to attend. With some schools costing nearly six figures a year, the rising cost of these institutions is far higher than the average inflation of other goods and services.
For example, Wellesley’s tuition will increase by 4.7 percent for the 2024-2025 school year, coming to a Toal of more than $92,000. However the Consumer Price Index, which is a measuring stick of inflation, rose just 3.2 percent from February 2023 to February 2024.
While the numbers for these New England-based schools are eye-popping, they’re not alone. According to the Department of Education, the cost of attending a public four-year college increased by more than 200 percent between 1987 and 2017. And that’s led to an increase in student debt - borrowers between the ages of 25 and 34 hold an average balance of $32,000.
The Biden administration has made it a priority to cancel student loan debt, and the White House has forgiven more than $138 billion for nearly 4 million Americans since the President took office.
That’ll do it for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m J.D. Durkin with TheStreet.
