Affordability |
Facts About College Affordability
Click here to read about college affordability for African American students.
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Tuition and Fees in Past 20 Years (adjusted for inflation)
- Tuition and fees at both 2-year and 4-year public colleges have more than doubled.
- In real terms, tuition and fees are up by 129% at 4-year colleges and by 134% at 2-year colleges.
- Room and board has increased 30% in real terms at 4-year colleges.
Grants and Aid
- While tuition and fees have risen dramatically, the maximum federal Pell grant was only $4,050 in 2006, a decline of 20% in constant dollars since 1975.
- For 2007 and 2008, the maximum fees went up by about 6.5% each year, slightly more than the amount of average tuition increases.
- Even families in the top 25% of income earners are seeking aid, with that group holding the highest percentage increase in receiving aid since 1990.
Loans
- Between 1993 and 2004, the percentage of graduating seniors or their parents who borrowed for undergraduate education increased from 46% to 66%. During the same period, the average amount borrowed rose from $9,297 to $19,202.
- In 2004, over 12% of the parents of seniors graduating from public 4-year colleges took out federal loans. On average, these loans were for $17,709. This amount does not include other types of loans, such as home equity loans.
In short, the average tuition at public colleges has more than doubled and the cost of room and board has increased by nearly a third in just twenty years, while at the same time federal aid and Pell Grants are covering less and less of the cost of attending college. This has led to an increased use of federal aid by middle and upper income families and even greater hardship for lower income families whose grant aid no longer covers a sufficient portion of their costs.
While families across the income spectrum are having difficulty paying for college, the disparity is clear when considering that, according to federal data, the highest achieving low-income students attend postsecondary education at the same rate as the bottom achieving high-income students. The remaining highest achieving low-income students are not getting the further education they have merited and our workforce and economy are shortchanged without their talents. Further, far too many of their peers with untapped potential in other achievement groups also don't get the opportunities afforded by a college education.
Source: NELS: 88, Second (1992) and Third Follow Up (1994); in, USDOE, NCES, NCES
Condition of Education 1997 p. 64
Sources
Trends in College Pricing - 2007 College Board
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/trends/trends_pricing_07.pdf
2006 NACAC Secondary School Counseling Trends Survey
http://projectonstudentdebt.org/files/pub/Balancing_Acts.pdf
Project on Student Debt: Student Debt and the Class of 2006
http://projectonstudentdebt.org/state_by_state-data.php
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2003-2004, 1999-2000, 1995-1996, and 1992-1993 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study.
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/npsas/
Student Financing of Undergraduate Education 2003-04, NCES 2006
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006186.pdf
