Cost of College

The number of students seeking postsecondary education at public or private nonprofit institutions has increased by 31 percent over the last decade, and close to 90 percent of the overall student population is now enrolled in these types of schools. As demand for a postsecondary education has grown, so has the cost, and families are finding college increasingly difficult to afford. To help students pay for college, the Department of Education (Education) provides assistance through Title IV of the Higher Education Act, awarding $133 billion in federal student aid in the 2009-2010 school year. To help ensure transparency and accountability in the public and private nonprofit postsecondary education sectors, this book reviews schools in these sectors with respect to their revenue trends; expenditure trends; student graduation rates; and disclosure of information to students on cost of attendance, graduation rates, and future employment. The book also briefly presents trends in out-of-pocket net price for college, the amount that students and their families must pay to attend college after subtracting grants, loans, work-study, and all other student aid from the total price of attendance. It also presents out-of-pocket net price by income levels for the most recent data available (2011-12). For comparability, findings are presented for undergraduates attending full time for a full year and also trends are presented separately for key institution types.