Washington
The average price tag for a college education continued to rise faster than the inflation rate this year, particularly at public four-year institutions, even as federal Pell Grants covered less than a third of tuition, fees, room, and board at the average four-year public college, according to data released this morning by the College Board.
The increase in tuition and fees this year at the nation's public four-year institutions was in keeping with a trend that has persisted for three decades, according to the College Board's annual tuition survey. From 1977-78 to 2007-8, the rate of growth of the price at such institutions has been faster than at private four-year institutions, and the dollar gap between the cost of tuition at the two types of institutions "widens every year even after adjusting for inflation," the survey found.
In-state tuition and fees at public four-year institutions during the 2007-8 academic year increased 6.6 percent from 2006-7, the survey found, while the price for out-of-state students rose 5.5 percent.
In dollar amounts, those increases meant that the average cost of tuition and fees for in-state students was $6,185, or $381 more than last year, the survey found. For out-of-state students, it was $16,640, or $862 more than the 2006-7 figure.
At private four-year institutions, tuition and fees increased 6.3 percent from last year, with the average cost of tuition and fees reaching $23,712, or $1,404 more than last year.
Public two-year institutions posted a 4.2-percent increase from last year's amount, averaging $2,361, or $95 more than last year.
Having a good education system is expensive, said Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, at a news conference. "But we also have to be concerned about the cost if it discourages people from going to college and getting a degree," he said. The average college student graduates with a $20,000 loan, he said. "That's a lot of money. But when you consider that that's about what you pay for a car, that's a pretty good investment for a student to make."
The College Board's tuition survey, "Trends in College Pricing," and its companion survey on financial aid, "Trends in Student Aid," are both available on its Web site. A summary table and a tuition database of thousands of colleges are on The Chronicle's Web site.
States Bear Smaller Share of Cost
As the share of total costs at public universities covered by state appropriations has declined, and the share covered by tuition and fees has increased, the published price of tuition at those universities has shown a "very rapid increase" over the last decade, said Sandy Baum, a senior policy analyst for the College Board and a professor of economics at Skidmore College. Public institutions are also spending less per student than they did 20 years ago, Ms. Baum said.
State and local appropriations are a "very important" part of the financing structure for public institutions, which have much smaller endowments than private colleges and universities do, Ms. Baum said. Although states are setting aside more money for higher education than they used to, she said, enrollment rates have also increased. After adjusting for inflation, the amount that public institutions spend per student was lower in the 2005-6 academic year than it was 20 years ago, she said.
Some experts said they were concerned that a decline in state appropriations would not bode well for future students when it came to containing tuition increases.
David Ward, president of the American Council on Education, said in a written statement that state governments, which set tuition prices at most public colleges and universities, needed to "reinvest in higher education and keep their commitment to the financing partnership with instiutions and the federal government."
And while the relatively stable increase in college tuition was "good news," Mr. Ward said, it masked serious issues of financing for higher education at large.
"Until we publicly debate the quiet cost-shifting from state support to tuition that continues in far too many states, no amount of effort by our institutions to raise revenue and cut expenses will be able to preserve affordable tuition formulas, particularly at public colleges and universities," he said.
Pell Value Falls, Private Lending Rises
In the 2006-7 academic year, about three-quarters of full-time undergraduates received some form of aid to help them pay for college, the financial-aid survey found. And with federal student aid decreasing, more students turned to state and private lenders to finance their college educations.
During that year, $131-billion in aid— including grants, work-study, federal loans, and federal tax credits and deductions— was given to undergraduate and graduate students, an increase of 82 percent from 1996-7.
Of that total, $97-billion was given to undergraduates— 46 percent in the form of grants and 49 percent in loans. Sixteen percent of that $97-billion, or $16-billion, came from state and private sources, the survey found.
In the decade from 1996-97 to 2006-7, federally subsidized Stafford Loans fell from 54 percent of the average undergraduate's total aid to 32 percent. Private lending, by contrast, grew from 6 percent of student aid to 24 percent in the same time period.
However, the growth in private loans slowed to 6 percent in the 2006-7 academic year, Ms. Baum said. Those types of loans had been growing at a rate of 27 percent a year for the preceding five years.
Pell Grants were the only federal student-aid program to award a significant share of its dollars to students at public two-year institutions, who constitute 32 percent of all full-time undergraduates, the survey found. While students at community colleges received 34 percent of all Pell Grant dollars in the 2005-6 academic year, they received 9 percent of all campus-based aid, 7 percent of subsidized Stafford loans, 6 percent of unsubsidized Stafford loans, and 1 percent of all PLUS loans (for parents), the survey found.
For graduate students, 33 percent of their aid consisted of grants, while 64 percent was loans.
Pell Grants fell to their lowest level in six years last year, with the average award consisting of $2,494 in 2006-7.
Two decades ago, the survey found, Pell Grants covered 52 percent of the average tuition, fees, room, and board at a public four-year institution and 21 percent of those costs at the average private four-year institution. By last year, the grants had declined to cover only 32 percent of such costs at four-year public universities and 13 percent at private universities, the survey found.
Low-income students at private institutions covered one-third of their tuition and fees with institutional grants, the survey found, while similar students at public four-year institutions covered one-quarter of their costs with such grants.
The two surveys also found, among other things, that:
- Thirty-two percent of full-time undergraduates at public and private four-year colleges and universities were enrolled at institutions with tuition and fees of less than $6,000, while 22 percent were enrolled at institutions where tuition and fees were $21,000 or higher.
- The Southwest posted the most rapid increase in college prices during the past decade among all regions of the country, although total charges in that region still remained lower than in most others.
