The Cost Of College Is Rising ... Again

By Victoria Robertson on November 19, 2014

Feel like you’re drowning in student loans? Well, you’re not alone. According to the College Board, the cost of attending college has risen yet again, and while this is no longer “surprising” news, these increases are felt by students everywhere.

In a recent Associated Press article on the rising cost of college, Sandy Baum, a co-author of the nonprofit College Board’s annual college pricing report, said:

“The price increases are actually quite moderate this year, but still, what people are paying, and this is before financial aid, is the accumulation of many years of price increases. So if the price goes up just a little bit this year, people aren’t really going to breathe a sigh of relief because the price is already high from their perspective.”

College education has always come at a price, and we probably shouldn’t be shocked that tuition is continually rising.

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So just how much is college costing students nowadays?

The same AP article laid out the basic costs for each type of institution (with the inclusion of room and board):

Undergraduate students at a 4-year institution pay about $18,943; out-of-state students at this same institution pay about $32,762; in-state students at two-year public schools pay about $11,052; students at private, nonprofit four-year schools pay about $42,419 (including housing and a meal plan); and for-profit schools cost about $15,230 for students (not including housing figures).

With these statistics at the forefront of our minds, it’s safe to say these prices are fairly astronomical, but it’s important to note that these increased rates are still on the lower end when comparing them with past rates.

According to the AP article, “the highest rate of increase of 3.7 percent was among private, nonprofit colleges.” However, this is a fairly small rate of increase in comparison to the rates seen “five, 10 or 30 years ago.”

While the rate of increase may appear to be smaller, the article still says that students are actually paying more than triple what students were paying 30 years ago for public, four-year institutions. They are also paying about 2.5 times more towards tuition for private nonprofit or two-year public schools.

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So what toll are these increases in tuition taking on students?

The AP article claims the number of students graduating with debt from “public or private, nonprofit schools from which they began their studies” was about 60 percent. These students borrowed an average of $27,300.

However, the College Board also claims that the amount of students that are taking out student loans is declining, as is the amount of money said students are borrowing.

While the number of students participating in full-time undergraduate programs may have decreased from the fall of 2010 to the fall of 2013 from 13.7 to 13 million, this number increased by 16 percent the three years preceding the fall of 2010.

So when looking statistically at the effects of these ever-rising tuition prices, we aren’t seeing nearly as dramatic of an effect on students as we have seen in the past.

So if the effects aren’t as negative as in the past, why are students today still suffering from the rising tuition rates?

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The Associated Press quotes Baum in answering this question, claiming “only the wealthiest of Americans are seeing their incomes rise, so most students feel the tuition upticks more.”

Which brings us to the main question: why are tuition prices rising?

According to the AP article, we are in “tough economic times.” Because of the state of our economy, the cost of tuition continues to rise–this can be attributed to the lack of in-state dollars given to public institutions and even the decrease in endowments for private institutions.

Of course, not everything can be pinned on lack of contributions from the state, as the article also pins down increasing technological costs and university employee health insurance as contributing factors to these tuition increases. However, increasing prices are also not limited to any of these factors, as multiple components are considered in these increased rates.

So what are the exact percentages of increase in these tuition prices? The Associated Press provides us these statistics:

In-state tuition and fees at public four-year schools increased 2.9 percent from the 2013-2014 school year while out-of-state tuition increased 3.3 percent during this same time period. Public two-year schools’ tuition increased 3.3 percent, nonprofit schools’ tuition and fees rose 3.7 percent and for-profit schools rose 1.3 percent in tuition and fees.

While these appear to be marginal price increases, students still feel the effects of them greatly, as these rates don’t even include the cost of books and transportation, which the Associated Press claims tacks on about $2,000 more to the price of tuition.

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On the other hand, these “published prices” also exclude grant money given to students “such as Pell Grants, the GI Bill and tax credits.”

According to the article, “this school year, full-time students received an average of about $6,110 in aid at public four-year schools, $5,090 at public two-year ones, and $18,870 at private colleges.”

The bottom line: the cost of college is increasing across the board, and we need to brace ourselves for it.

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