College Tuition Increases Far Outpace Income Growth over Last 25 Years
Friday, December 5, 2008
According to the Measuring Up 2008 report (PDF copy) by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, college tuition and fees have increased by 439 percent in the U.S. between 1982 and 2007. Over this same period, median family income rose only 147 percent.
College Bills Rising Faster than Medical Bills
WOW! That means college costs grew almost three times as fast as family income. College costs grew nearly twice as fast as medical care costs, according to the report. If that trend continues, parents may need to start playing the lottery in hopes they can win enough money to pay for their children's college education.
More Debt, Please
And financial aid has not been able to keep up. The poorest families (those in the bottom 20 percent) have seen the net cost of college increase from 39 percent of their income to 55 percent of their income. That is the net cost, so it takes into account financial aid they may have received. That doesn't leave much money for food, rent, and clothing... some other "nice-to-have" items. If this trend continues, college graduates will be leaving school with more and more debt. It may really start to affect the decision of whether college is worth the money or not, if it hasn't already.
No College or College Abroad?
If something does not change, are we headed for a time when college is not really accessible to everyone? Or maybe more and more people will look abroad instead of attending higher-priced private institutions in the U.S. – see the NY Times' article Going Off to College for Less (Passport Required).
Labels: college, debt, tuition, value
Amherst Joins Princeton and Davidson on List of No Loan Colleges
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Graduating college debt-free... that sounds pretty incredible, doesn't it? No student loan debt seems too good to be true. Well, Amherst joined Princeton and Davidson this summer as the only colleges whose financial aid packages do not include any student loan component... that's right. Any student can graduate Amherst, Davidson, or Princeton without a penny in student loans. These three colleges do not put any limitation on income levels that qualify for their programs.
At these three colleges, your financial aid package will be made up entirely of work-study and grant aid. The way these programs basically work is this... You complete the financial aid forms and receive an assessment of your EFC (Expected Family Contribution). The difference between your EFC and the Cost of Attendance is your financial need. These colleges are basically promising that the financial aid package used to cover your financial need will not include any student loans. You and your parents will still be responsible for covering the EFC portion and may choose to take out student loans to cover some of your expected family contribution. That's up to you, but the Amherst and Princeton are doing what they can to make it feasible for you to graduate debt-free.
The programs at Amherst, Davidson, and Princeton are the most generous of a new wave of financial aid initiatives aimed at eliminating or minimizing student loan debt. Several colleges and universitites, (including Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Penn, and Emory) eliminate student loans for low-income students. Some state schools (such as Michigan State, Indiana, and UNC-Chapel Hill) offer similar programs for low-income students from within their respective states.
If you want to see a fairly comprehensive list of U.S. colleges and universities who have created programs to help students graduate debt-free, take a look at the Project on Student Debt's website.
Labels: Amherst, award, Davidson, debt, EFC, financial aid, financial need, Princeton, student loans