As college fees climb, aid does too
By Tamar Lewin/New York Times
As their state financing dwindled, four-year public universities increased their published tuition and fees almost 8 percent this year, to an average of $7,605, according to the College Board’s annual reports. When room and board are included, the average in-state student at a public university now pays $16,140 a year. At private nonprofit colleges and universities, tuition rose 4.5 percent to an average of $27,293, or $36,993 with room and board. The good news in the 2010 “Trends in College Pricing” and “Trends in Student Aid” reports is that fast-rising tuition costs have been accompanied by a huge increase in financial aid, which helped keep down the actual amount students and families pay. “In 2009-2010, students got $28 billion in Pell grants, and that’s $10 billion more than the year before,” said Sandy Baum, the economist who is the lead author of the reports. (more…)