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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- It is that time of year, when high school seniors start applying for college.

But with the bad economy, and sky-rocketing tuition rates, should students look for the right school or the right price?

According to The Project on Student Debt, the average debt level for graduating seniors at the end of the last decade was around $24,000.

It also said 67 percent of students graduating from a four-year college or university have some student loan debt.

School District 11's Palmer High School hosted a college fair Monday night for all southern Colorado students in the hopes of helping them and their parents find a school that is right both educationally and financially.

"I am thinking about being a psychologist probably," Palmer Junior Maija Roscoe said.

"I have no clue, just going in and see what I like," Pine Creek Junior Andrew Wallace said.

It is one of the most important choices we make in our lifetime, where to go to college.

So how does one know where to go, and what to study?

Experts said unfortunately there is not an exact formula because everyone is different.

"When we advise kids about college, we want them to find the best fit, a college they can afford and a college that offers them the things they are looking for," Palmer High Counselor Nola Thomasson said. "We want them to come out of school with a great education, and a great vocation."

Thomasson said students should start looking at schools during their junior year.

She said they do need to think long-term, and be realistic about what they want to do when they graduate, and what kind-of debt they want to take on.

"Try to do their best to graduate in four years instead of five, and if they are working with a good admissions counselor there, they can make that happen," Thomasson said.

For the budget-conscious who do want to attend an out-of-state school, Thomasson said there are always scholarships, grants and work-study.

But she said to get them students have to do their research, and be willing to apply for a lot, even if they do already have some money in place.

"I do plan on applying for scholarships, and I have been saving up for college with my parents for a long time," Roscoe said.

"I have had the money talk, and my grandparents put some money aside for me, so it is nice I have some extra others do not," Wallace said.