October 13, 2006

Health-Insurance Expenses for Colleges Keep Rising, Beyond Costs in Other Sectors, Surveys Find

By AUDREY WILLIAMS JUNE

The cost of health benefits to colleges climbed again this year, and the rate of increase continued to outpace the costs borne in most other sectors of the economy, two recent surveys have found.

Eighty-one percent of colleges saw the average cost of medical and dental plans rise in the 2006 fiscal year, with the median increase for those colleges being 9 percent, according to a survey by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.

Last year's survey