Making college more affordable for families has been a critical issue for states in the SREB region for many years. Now the negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have created additional barriers to college affordability. This brief provides an overview of college affordability in the SREB region based on data from the 2017-2018…

Differences in funding mixtures across the United States create widely variant levels of unmet need for students. This research examines gaps of unmet need between 2003-4 and 2013-14, particularly considering the presence of any local funding provisions and Pell Grant funding changes. These findings are also considered across state, community…

A collaboration between The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) and the Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC), this policy brief examines the costs of attending California Community Colleges (CCCs) for low-income students and the roles that financial aid resources, work hours, and student loan borrowing currently…

In response to the high cost of textbooks and other course materials, "Inclusive Access" automatic billing programs allow the cost of a discounted eTextbook and/or courseware to be automatically added to a student's tuition bill at the time of course registration. Touted for their ability to lower costs and provide students with access…

The California Community Colleges (CCC) College Attendance Survey was designed to understand the factors influencing prospective and previously enrolled community college students' decisions to attend a California community college in fall of 2023. This report summarizes the second administration of this survey in late summer/early fall 2023 and…

A review of the literature revealed the need to further explore continuing-generation college students attending community colleges. This case study sought to understand the choice process of continuing-generation, direct-entry college students who enrolled in Miami Dade College (MDC), a baccalaureate community college. This research was planned…

Each year, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) provides a tuition and fees report based on charges approved by boards of visitors at Virginia public institutions. The report includes a list of tuition and fee charges to in-state and out-of-state students and for undergraduate and graduate programs. It also provides trends…

Affordability is considered a key predictor of college enrollment and academic success, yet higher education costs continue to rise. Over the past three decades, textbooks and course materials alone have increased almost three times the rate of inflation (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). To identify the extent to which course material costs…

Verification is a federally mandated process that requires selected students to further attest that the information reported on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is accurate and complete. In this brief, we estimate institutional costs of administrating the FAFSA verification mandate and consider variation in costs by…

The Tuition and Fee Report is produced annually by the Colorado Department of Higher Education to provide detailed information on the tuition and fee rates at Colorado's public institutions, as well as to give context regarding the state funding environment in which tuition and fee rate-setting occurs. Colorado has mirrored national trends over…

The Wyoming Community College System strategic plan charts an exciting course forward for the next five years. The 2021-2025 strategic plan is crafted to provide a direction forward for the Wyoming Community College System and compliment the many statewide educational initiatives including the individual community colleges' strategic plans, and…

The Appropriation Act directs the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) to submit an annual report to the Governor and the chairs of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees documenting the annual change in total charges for tuition and fees approved by the boards of visitors at Virginia public…

This updated TICAS (The Institute for College Access & Success) analysis finds that low-income students and families actually pay less to attend each of the nine University of California (UC) campuses than they would at Cal State (CSU) or California Community Colleges (CCC) in the same region.

The Tuition and Fee Report is produced annually by the Colorado Department of Higher Education to provide detailed information on the tuition and fee rates at Colorado's public institutions, as well as to give context regarding the state funding environment in which tuition and fee rate-setting occurs. Colorado has mirrored national trends over…

The Appropriation Act directs the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) to submit an annual report to the Governor and the chairs of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees documenting the annual change in total charges for tuition and fees approved by the boards of visitors at Virginia public…