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Report: College prices up again this year
By Justin Pope
Associated Press
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Average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose 6.6 percent this year, again outstripping increases in financial aid and pushing students into more borrowing. Community colleges once again did the best job keeping the lid on prices.

In-state students at four-year public schools are paying $6,185 this year, up $381 from last year, according to the nonprofit College Board's annual survey of college costs, released Monday. At four-year private colleges, tuition and fees rose 6.3 percent to $23,712.

The published price is not the real price for many students. On average, accounting for grants and tax breaks, full-time students are actually paying $2,577 this year to attend four-year public universities. That's $209 more than last year.

However, even the net price is still rising much faster than overall inflation. The net price at public universities is $560 higher, in 2007 dollars, than a decade ago. The five years have seen prices rise 31 percent above and beyond the general inflation rate for other goods and services — the worst record on college prices of any five-year period covered by the survey dating back 30 years.

Prices at two-year colleges, which educate about half of American college students, rose 4.2 percent to $2,361. Accounting for aid, their average net cost is only $320 per year.

A companion report released on trends in student aid shows that over the last decade, increases in grant aid — money students don't have to pay back — have covered only about one-third of the increases in private college tuition and half the increases at public four-year schools.

While borrowing from the government is still far bigger, students are footing more and more of the bill with private loans from banks and student loan companies. Undergraduate private borrowing grew 12 percent to $14.5 billion in 2006-2007. The rate of increase in total private borrowing for education has slowed, but borrowing has increased tenfold over the last decade.

Including room and board for students living on campus, charges for public four-year colleges were $13,589, or 5.9 percent higher than last year. At private four-year schools, total charges rose by the same percentage to $32,307. George Washington University in Washington, D.C. recently attracted attention for becoming the first major university with a published price, including room and board, of more than $50,000.

However, the percentage of college-goers who pay such large sums is fairly small. Fewer than 10 percent even attend colleges with tuition and fees higher than $30,000, according to the College Board, and many of those students receive financial aid. About 56 percent of students at four-year colleges attend schools listing a price under $10,000, and about one-third attend schools charging under $6,000.

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Reader comments on this story - 8 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Las Vegas Louie wrote on Oct 23, 2007 12:24 PM:

" 4 years colleges are a sucker bet, friends. Have your kids go to community college the first two years and save a bundle. Sure, you won't be able to brag to your neighbors about little Susie playing softball at Purdue. But come retirement time those chumps will still be paying for their kids psychology degree while you're vacationing in Cancun. Hee Haw! "

Mr. Nature Lover wrote on Oct 23, 2007 12:20 PM:

" Aaah- the signs of fall are all around us. Leaves turning a golden hue, cool brisk air in the morning, and college tuition costs rising way faster than inflation. Christmas must be just around the corner. "

Re: Not a value wrote on Oct 22, 2007 9:35 PM:

" Well said. Universities have the business world snookered into thinking young people must have 4-year degrees to be ready for the business world. These students may be more educated, but they're not necessarily smarter. I'll hire a mature, honest, and trainable person over an educated, smug, and self-entitled person any day. "

In the Know wrote on Oct 22, 2007 4:10 PM:

" For public universities, as state funding decreases, tuition rises. My son has a tuition payment plan in another state, which fully covers his tuition if he went to college there. However, he goes to ISU, pays in-state rates, and the tuition payment plan only covers half of his tuition. Thanks Governor Rod! Keep cutting back on higher education funding. "

Not a value? wrote on Oct 22, 2007 2:51 PM:

" Don't go! It's called weighing value to cost... decide for yourself. Maybe if less people attended (demand) because there wasn't a perceived value, the price would level or drop. "

RA RA wrote on Oct 22, 2007 2:45 PM:

" Glad the tuition increases at Heartland are gonna be used for SPORT! "

O rly? wrote on Oct 22, 2007 2:07 PM:

" This is another article they should just save and replace the numbers each year. That is if they don't do this already. "

Me wrote on Oct 22, 2007 1:58 PM:

" Why are we college students completely taken advantage of? "
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