Tuition fees also weigh heavily on families who pay their kids’ way through higher education: Two researchers have found that American families who send their kids to college are significantly more at risk of foreclosure, says the Washington Post’s Andrew Van Dam. Sociologists Jacob Faber and Peter Rich examined college attendance rates and foreclosure rates across the country, and believe they have found a causal relationship between the two variables — in most areas, foreclosures spike one year after college attendance rates rise. “Previous research has shown that having kids at all boosts your foreclosure risk significantly. It cost an average of USD 233,610 to raise a child through age 18, according to 2015 figures … ‘In addition to kids being generally expensive, having a kid in college is particularly financially stressful for households,’ Faber said.” The findings are “troubling” considering how valuable highly-educated individuals are in the workforce, he says.