• Age: 18

• Address: Forest Park

• College status: Plans to attend University of South Carolina in Columbia, majoring in broadcast journalism this fall

•  Estimated cost: $15,000 tuition and room and board this year• How he'll make it happen: He's applied for scholarships and also will rely on a combination of work-study, student loans and help from his parents.

• How high college costs are affecting him: His father lives in Beaufort, S.C., so he'll save money by living with his father and spending the first semester at the university's branch campus in Beaufort, which will qualify him for in-state tuition. He had originally wanted to attend Hampton University in Virginia, but the $20,000 annual cost was prohibitive.

"You have to have at least two incomes to even fathom that one of your children are going to be able to go to school," says his father, Micah Lucky.

"The costs have skyrocketed so much that it's real difficult to even be able to send him. We're very fortunate he's going to be able to attend. We're probably going to be shelling out 70 percent. All we're asking him to do is make sure he gets good grades, so he's able to graduate on time."