College Tuition project
This project was dedicated to exploring two colleges of our choosing and comparing their prices and repayment plans. I looked into Lewis and Clark College as well as Colorado State University, one being in-state and the other being out of state. I researched tuition costs and overall costs for the past ten years at each college and created linear equations for these findings. This information helped me to predict the future costs of tuition for the four years that I will be attending college. After calculating how much college would cost in my years of attendance, I looked into repayment plans. We were given four options for repayment plans, each having a different time period and interest rate increase. These rates were compared and put into an exponential equation. I then chose which repayment plan would be the most realistic and beneficial to me. This project helped open my eyes to the realistic approach of attending college and made me aware that in-state is much less expensive than out of state. This knowledge will come into play when choosing colleges to attend in the near future.
Personal Loans project
In this project, students were given a choice of mathematical concepts we wished to pursue that was most applicable to our lives. I chose to research personal loans because I was not knowledgeable about the subject, and thought it would be useful information going into the future. In the end I decided to compare two banks in the hope to educate an audience the importance of shopping around to find the least costly outcome after taking out a personal loan. I compared Home State Bank and Wells Fargo which is local bank vs. a national bank. Not only did I compare the two banks, but I also looked into the difference between secured and unsecured loans. From the research I conducted, I was able to find out the APR, and monthly payment with a theoretical loan amount and term. After I gathered this information I applied it to certain equations, and worked backward to see how the data I researched came to be. I also applied the numbers to theoretical scenarios, and play around with different terms, monthly payments, and annual percentage rates. This project was extremely informative, and useful for me to be learning about.
To see my visual piece, click HERE
Click HERE to see my sample problems