College Students Strain to Cover Rising Tuition at Public Institutions

By Sean Cavanagh

The image of the affordable, accessible four-year state university is taking a beating these days, battered by reports of spiraling costs and looming debts that confront students and their families at every turn.

In study after study, a new portrait of the average undergraduate at public institutions is emerging. Students from low- and middle-income homes are seeing a larger-than-ever percentage of their families' incomes swallowed by tuition costs at public universities, the research suggests.

Those students who commit to higher education, experts say, are more likely than ever to end up taking out loans—which have to be repaid—instead of grants, which do not. And to try to stay out of debt, a majority of today's undergraduates will work while in school, some in...