US colleges and universities increase tuition again

Tuition and fees at four-year public institutions rose to $5,491 this year, an increase of more than 7 percent. Including room and board, the average annual cost of attendance rose to $12,127. When textbook costs, transportation, and additional fees for full-time, in-state public university students are added, the average total is more than $15,500 nationwide. These charges have risen an average of 6 percent every year for the past 10 years, although this year’s increase is smaller than last year’s.

At private four-year institutions, tuition and fees averaged $21,235 for the 2005 academic year, an increase of $1,190, or 5.9 percent, over the previous year. Including room and board, the average cost of attendance is $29,026.

Although universities nationwide increased their tuition, the states experiencing the highest increases in public tuition were Colorado (17 percent), Kentucky (14 percent), and Michigan (12 percent). Michigan public university tuition is currently $7,100, significantly higher than the national average.

The College Board pricing report states that for dependent students from the lowest income quartile, the average net cost of attendance at a four-year public school was an astonishing 47 percent of the average family income in 2003-2004, up from 41 percent in 1992-1993.

At the same time, government aid benefiting working class students, such as the student work-study program and grants contingent on financial need, have grown more slowly than tuition. Tax credits and non-need-based scholarships, which disproportionately benefit those students of families in the highest income bracket, have grown significantly.

The decline in aid means that low-income students are increasingly resorting to borrowing. According to the College Board, since 2001-2002, total borrowing by students has grown faster than total grant aid. “Average aid per student increased by 3 percent between 2003-04 and 2004-05, after adjusting for inflation,” the Trends in Student Aid notes. “Between 1996-97 and 2001-02, total grant aid for undergraduates grew twice as fast as total borrowing, but since 2001-02, that pattern has reversed. In 2004-05, the percentage of total undergraduate aid in the form of grants declined for the third year in a row.”

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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/oct2005/tuit-o27.shtml