STEVE MALONE/NEWS-PRESS UCSB student Hillary Laurie visits the college's financial aid office.

College planner Linda Taylor sees it over and over. College costs are going up, by nearly 10 percent at public universities nationwide last year, and slightly less at private schools.

But her clients aren't earning extra money to make up the difference.

In fact, many parents don't even bother to save for their children's education after high school, she finds. Instead, they hope for help in the form of grants or scholarships -- and often have to take out large loans if their child doesn't qualify for need-based financial aid.

But as the projected cost of college continues to go up -- just last month, the UC system announced an additional $135-per-quarter fee to help deal with state budget cutbacks, and more, a $795 increase is a possibility for next year -- families and students are having to make some tough decisions about where, when and how they go to college.

Most of Ms. Taylor's student clients will have $18,000 in debt by graduation and their parents will rack up $60,000, assuming the student finishes school in four years. If they want to avoid going in the red, parents say, their children may not end up at their private four-year dream school, but at the nearest state school.

"There is no way under the sun that my kids could afford to pay their way through a four-year college today, and not come out in great debt to the college," said Marilyn Macy, the mother of two daughters currently attending University of California campuses.

Two decades ago, Ms. Macy was able to attend UCSB by working and living at her parents' home in Goleta. But times have changed. Attending what is considered a value school -- UCSB -- costs around $16,000 per year, including away-from-home living expenses. Tuition and other academic fees amount to about $4,000. In 1992, tuition and fees averaged $2,488 at California public universities, according to the College Board.

Financial aid for college is determined by filling out a standardized federal form called the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). The eight-page report asks for family income information to determine an expected parent contribution. Once student need is determined, eligibility for grants, work-study programs, and loans are computed.

One question parents commonly ask about the form: Where do I put down my expenses?

You don't, meaning that South Coast families who earn more than other Americans due to the cost of living in California are expected to contribute more to their children's college expenses.

As Ms. Taylor describes it, a Santa Barbara family of four must earn more than a comparable family in Iowa to uphold similar lifestyle standards. But because of the variation in their earnings, colleges require less money from the Iowa family.

"For example, Santa Barbara earns $100,000 and the Iowa family earns $60,000. The Expected Family Contribution (EFC) for the Santa Barbara family would be $20,000 while the Iowa family would pay $12,000. So the EFC is essentially a tax on the parents' adjusted gross income," Ms. Taylor said. She calls it "the college tax."

Ms. Taylor is based in Agoura Hills and works with families in Santa Barbara County. When they choose to retain her services, the first thing she does is put together a detailed breakdown of how much it would cost, per year, for the parents to send their son or daughter to the schools they most want to attend. Using their tax forms, she estimates how much they could afford to spend each month and how much debt they would incur for each school.

Most of the students Ms. Taylor works with want to go to name-brand schools -- Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale -- at least until their parents realize exactly how much they cost. After seeing their individual financial analyses and how much they would save on a comparable institution, many change their minds.

Ms. Macy didn't retain a private college counselor, which can cost about $1,000, but called around to universities until she found knowledgable help. Her daughters had strong academic rankings and could have been accepted into prestigious private schools. But ultimately, they didn't apply.

"We considered seeking scholarships from the private schools, but even if the girls had been successful, the cost was still too high in terms of our savings, and combined with potential travel costs during the school year," she said. Taking out substantial loans would have been the only way to do it. "I don't wish to have them saddled with debt immediately after graduation."

But that's reality for many students. Ron Andrade, interim director of financial aid at UCSB, reports that about 12,000 of the university's 21,000 students receive government-based aid, and most graduate with at least $16,000 in loans.

Kiplinger.com, which includes the school in its list of the nation's 100 most affordable public colleges (along with seven of the other eight UC undergraduate campuses), puts the average graduate's debt at $16,426. Of the UCs on the list, only UC Santa Cruz has a higher debt average.

"The affordability of the UC system has been emphasized by the University Office of the President, and it really is," said Mr. Andrade. "If you compare us to any private institution or even the state institutions throughout the nation, we're extremely affordable."

But even if students are dead set on a UC, concerns about how to pay for it are expressed across income brackets.

Sue Gleason, head of Santa Barbara's Cal-SOAP (Student Opportunity and Access Program), works mostly with low-income families.

"They worry about how they're going to pay for it because it's so expensive now," Ms. Gleason said of her clients. Many of the families are Latino, and most choose a city college for their students after high school. "Our salaries don't keep up with what college costs are."

She realizes the danger of high debt, but points out that for many students, it means the difference between an education or not going to college at all. Cal-SOAP emphasizes the higher earning potential for college graduates over those with just a high school diploma to convince young people that college is worthwhile.

Cal-SOAP also pushes the Cal Grant program, which can contribute more than $3,000 a year to a full-time eligible student's expenses, and has been affected minimally by recent state budget cuts. The grants do not have to be repaid, but they are limited to low- to middle-income families with need. To be eligible for a Cal Grant "A," a family of four cannot make more than $66,000 or have more than $51,600 in assets.

About 4,000 UCSB students receive Cal Grants each year. When families make too much money to qualify for aid that doesn't have to be repaid, but don't have the cash flow to pay for college outright, they usually go to a lender. Federal college loans have lower-than-average interest rates for students and parents who qualify.

As costs have gone up at public and private schools, Diane Norvath, who has worked for Westmont College's financial aid office for 25 years, has seen students take out more and more loans.

"We look at that and we say, isn't this a wonderful thing there's more money to borrow, but it just puts the burden onto the student," Ms. Norvath said. Despite large difference in costs between UCSB and the small private school, average graduates of each institution end up with about $16,000 in debt.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Feb. 1: UCSB's Early Academic Outreach Program will hold a parent conference, "College: Making it Happen," from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the campus's Corwin Pavilion.

Workshops, to be held in English and Spanish, will include help with financial aid.

Feb. 9: Santa Barbara Cal-SOAP will hold College Goal Sunday, where parents can get help with financial aid and other questions about college, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Santa Barbara City College.

April 29 and 30: A tri-county National College Fair, sponsored by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, will be held at Seaside Park in Ventura.

The free event, from 6 to 8 p.m. on April 29 and 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on April 30, will include admission representatives from a variety of universities.

e-mail: letling@newspress.com