Tuition is costly, averaging about fourteen thousand dollars a year at public universities.
It's a hefty price tag that weighs heavily with Angelina Cardona, a junior at Reed High School.
"I think I'm going to decide when I'm actually there in the mix and see what my strengths are when I'm there. You don't have to decide for a while, I've heard, so that's good."

Cardona is like so many other students her age and is undecided about a major.
But, studies show those who wait will end up paying more money because of the extra time it could take to get on the right track.

Fritz Grupe is a local educator who founded an on-line website, My Majors.com to specifically help high school students pick a major before a college.
"Ideally, they should pick a major before a college because not every college or university offers every major. If it takes a year, that will be somewhere between a 50-thousand to 100-thousand dollar problem or issue because a student not only has to pay tuition, room and board, things like that. But, they're also forgoing income for a year."

Grupe says he learned the hard way.
"I picked my major by the end of my freshman year by looking at my transcripts to see what my grades were and decided between two majors where i had my highest grades."

According to the College Board, students spending more than four years in college is not unusual.
But, with the cost of college only going up and the competition increasing, high school counselors say the pressure hits students hard.

Jackie Gallagher is a counselor at Reed.
She says it usually doesn't come up until the last two years at high school.
"We really start to see college question come up in the junior and senior year. The reality starts to set in that this is going to end soon. My high school experience is going to end. What is it that I need to be solidifying in my high school experience, so that I have opportunities available."

*** For more information about choosing a major, you can visit MyMajors.com.