Name:____________________________

Due Friday!

1. Individually work on the Discovery Activity and answer parts a-i. 2. Get into your groups and compare your answers. Work through any issues and make revisions as needed. 3. Together with your groups work on the Research Activity. 4. Create a data display (bar chart, pie chart, pictograph, table, etc) of your research and come to a conclusion based on the information you found.

Discovery Activity: The Cost of College Tuition Marissa is going back to school to get her teaching certificate. She needs 12 additional credits to obtain certification and plans to attend one of the two local colleges. City College costs $70 per credit plus a $150 one-time registration fee, while State College costs $95 per credit and has no registration fee. Assuming both colleges have a similar academic reputation, which is the better choice based on cost? Go to part a to begin. a. Show the computational steps necessary to find the cost of taking one 3-credit course at City College and repeat the process for one 4-credit course at the same school.

b. Suppose the total number of credits a student takes is represented by the variable n and the cost to attend City College is represented by the variable C. Write a formula that expresses the cost C in terms of the number of credits taken n.

c. Show the computational steps necessary to find the cost of taking one 3-credit course at State College and repeat the process for one 4-credit course at the same school.

d. If the cost to attend State College is represent by S, then write a formula that expresses the cost S in terms of the number of credits taken n.

e. Complete the table below that gives the total cost a student pays at each college, including registration fee, for taking any number from 3 to 12 credits during a semester. Verify your results by creating a table in your graphing calculator. Number of Credits Cost at City College Cost at State College n C (in $) S (in $) 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 f. If it cost Marissas friend Megan $1130 to attend City College last semester, then how many credits did she take? Set up and solve the linear equation that will give the answer to this question. Use your graphing calculator to verify your solution by extending the table you constructed in part e.

g. Based on the data in the table, when does City College cost the same as State College?

h. Suppose both colleges allow a student to take up to 18 credits. Use inequality notation or interval notation to answer the following questions. Over what range of credits does City College cost more than State College?

Over what range of credits does City College cost less than State College?

i. Symbolically the cost at City College should be equal to the cost at State College when . Verify your answer to part g, by setting the right side expressions, from the equations in parts b and d, equal to each other and then solve for n.

Research: The Cost of College Tuition Imagine you are weighing your options for school with cost being an important factor. You would like to attend as a full time student and will be majoring in Psychology. You are considered indistrict for the community college. Compare the Psychology programs of both Triton College and Dominican University. Select 3 comparable Psychology courses between the two schools and compare their costs. (hint: search for tuition on each of the sites) Together with your group, determine the costs for taking the classes you select for each school. Then select a random card that is taped to the board. On the other side of this card will be a monetary value (i.e. $2500). Assume this is your budget for a semester and determine 1) which school you can afford and 2) which school you will attend for this particular semester. Create a data display (bar chart, pie chart, pictograph, table, etc) of your research and come to a conclusion based on the information you found.