College & Workforce Readiness

Tuition, Financial Aid Both on the Increase, College Board Reports

October 26, 2004 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Tuition at the nation’s public and private colleges has increased over the past year, but so have financial-aid dollars, concludes a group of reports released last week by the College Board.

“Education Pays 2004,” “Trends in College Pricing 2004,” and “Trends in Student Aid 2004,” are available online from the College Board. ()

The three reports—released by the New York City-based sponsor of the SAT—show that tuition at public colleges and universities is up 10.5 percent since the 2003-04 academic year, and that at private institutions it has increased by an average of 6 percent.

At the same time, one of the reports notes that the 2003-04 school year saw a record volume of financial aid, $122 billion, which was an 11 percent increase from the previous year.

But Gaston Caperton, the College Board president, emphasized that the country still has a long way to go in making college more accessible to low-income students. “We need to work aggressively to close the gaps in college access,” he said during a press conference held in Washington last week to release the reports.

One of the three reports, “Education Pays 2004,” specifically addresses the overall benefits of a college education for individuals and for society, such as lower incarceration rates, higher tax revenues, and greater levels of civic participation. The other two reports are “Trends in College Pricing 2004” and “Trends in Student Aid 2004.”

See Also

View the accompanying item,

Chart: Financial-Aid Sources

Sandy Baum, a senior policy analyst for the College Board and one of the authors of “Education Pays,” said that in recent years there has been a movement away from need-based financial aid in favor of merit aid. She said that trend has made the college-access gap worse.

Clinton Bristow, the president of Alcorn State University in Mississippi, who attended the press conference, agreed with Ms. Baum.

“Need-based aid is a very important component of decisionmaking,” he said. “Students will often opt out of higher education because of the cost.”

‘Long-Term Issues’

In a statement released last week, David Ward, the president of the American Council on Education, a Washington-based umbrella group for higher education, said that while the positive financial-aid totals from the College Board were a “welcome development,” he was far more concerned about the “very serious, long-term issues in financing higher education.”

Mr. Ward said that “no amount of effort by our institutions to raise revenue and cut expenses will be able to preserve affordable tuition formulas, particularly at public colleges and universities.”

He also raised the issue that was a major topic of conversation at last week’s press conference: making students aware of all of their financial-aid options.

According to a study released this month by the council, 50 percent of college students in the 1999-2000 school year did not complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly known as the FAFSA.

“It is deeply troubling to think that students may have missed the opportunity to receive needed assistance simply because they failed to fill out a federal form that is available on the Internet and in almost any high school or college financial-aid office,” Mr. Ward said in his statement.

Ms. Baum of the College Board said that students also are afraid of being in debt following college graduation. But she said the typical college graduate owes $20,000, an amount that she believes is “entirely manageable.”

‘Worth the Risk’

Mr. Caperton said during last week’s press conference that while higher education has many benefits, two stand out from the rest.

First, he pointed out that the preschool-age children of college graduates are more prepared for kindergarten than those of parents who aren’t college graduates. The “Education Pays” report shows that 73 percent of 3- to 5-year-old children of parents with a bachelor’s degree or higher could count to 20 before entering school, compared with 48 percent of children whose parents had just a high school diploma.

Second, he said that the children of college graduates are more likely to attend college.

It all comes down to the availability of information, Ms. Baum said.

“Need-based aid is extremely important, but we also have to emphasize information to students to tell them it is worth the risk, and the [financial] stretch, to get a college education,” she said.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Science Webinar
Making Science Stick: The Engaging Power of Hands-On Learning
How can you make science class the highlight of your students’ day while
achieving learning outcomes? Find out in this session.
Content provided by LEGO Education
Teaching Profession Key Insights to Elevate and Inspire Today’s Teachers
Join this free half day virtual event to energize your teaching and cultivate a positive learning experience for students.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Student Achievement Webinar
Student Success Strategies: Flexibility, Recovery & More
Join us for Student Success Strategies to explore flexibility, credit recovery & more. Learn how districts keep students on track.
Content provided by Pearson

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

College & Workforce Readiness Leader To Learn From This Leader Said All Kids Will Do College-Level Work. What It Took to Get There
Jennifer Norrell led an effort to more than double the percentage of high schoolers taking AP in her district.
12 min read
Dr. Jennifer Norrell, superintendent of East Aurora School District 131, visits East Aurora students at the Music Recording Studio at Resilience Education Center in Aurora, Ill., on Dec. 4, 2024.
Jennifer Norrell, superintendent of East Aurora School District 131, visits students at a recording studio at the district's new Resilience Education Center in Aurora, Ill., on Dec. 4, 2024.
Jamie Kelter Davis for Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness Leader To Learn From This Leader Made the Tagline 'Discover Your Future' Real for Students. Here's How
Lazaro Lopez was the architect of an early national career-pathway model that is still reaping dividends for students.
12 min read
Lazaro Lopez, associate superintendent for teaching and learning at High School District 214, visits the manufacturing lab at Wheeling High School, where he talks with students and their instructor, in Wheeling, Ill., on Dec. 3, 2024.
Lazaro Lopez, associate superintendent for teaching and learning at High School District 214, visits the manufacturing lab at Wheeling High School, where he talks with students and their instructor, in Wheeling, Ill., on Dec. 3, 2024.
Jamie Kelter Davis for Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness Q&A The Power of Career Pathways for Engaging High School Students
Lazaro Lopez is building career pathways to help students graduate with clear, relevant steps toward college and careers.
4 min read
Lazaro Lopez, associate superintendent for teaching and learning at High School District 214, stands for a portrait at Wheeling High School in Wheeling, Ill., on Dec. 3, 2024.
Lazaro Lopez, associate superintendent for teaching and learning at High School District 214, at Wheeling High School in Wheeling, Ill., on Dec. 3, 2024.
Jamie Kelter Davis for Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness Boys Think School Is a Waste of Time. Career Pathways Prove Them Wrong
Real-world, experiential learning appeals to how boys learn best, educators say.
7 min read
High school student Aaron Bartsch, 17, helps unload tools from a work van before working in a customer’s home as part of an internship with Barkley Heating and Air in Smyrna, Del., on October 15, 2024.
High schooler Aaron Bartsch, 17, helps unload tools from a work van before working in a customer’s home as part of an internship with Barkley Heating and Air in Smyrna, Del., on Oct. 15, 2024. His high school offers career pathways so students can get a taste of real-world, experiential learning.
Michelle Gustafson for Education Week