The most recent data on tuition, appropriations, and state grant aid present an economic outlook that appears favorable in the West. Tuition rates remained relatively flat for the past decade, total state funding to higher education increased across the region in the past year, and state grant aid continued to increase since 2010-11. Despite these…

The size and cost of US public higher education, funded largely by government, grew continuously for nearly twenty-five years after World War II. In the late 1960s, as the nation's economic growth slowed, the question of who should pay for higher education came under fresh political scrutiny. Decades-old no-tuition policies at the University of…

The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) annual survey of tuition and fees collects the resident and nonresident tuition and fees at public two- and four-year institutions in the WICHE region for undergraduate and graduate students. WICHE administered the most recent survey to state higher education executive offices, system…

California's public higher education system has catapulted the state into global leadership such that, the state is the 5th largest economy in the world today. A bachelor's degree, in particular, provides unrivaled economic and health benefits for the individual earning the degree and for the state. To better understand how California's public…

Since the Spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the lives of billions of people worldwide. Seemingly overnight, colleges and universities transitioned their entire operations online. There is no playbook for how to best respond to this global pandemic. While it is virtually impossible to predict the lasting impact that COVID-19 will…

State funding for higher education has increased in recent years. Per student funding for the California Community Colleges (CCC) is at an historic high and the Cal Grant program is larger than ever. But the state's investment in its public universities remains far lower than in the past. Indeed, California invests less per student (adjusted for…

This report provides comprehensive data about the tuition and fee prices published by public higher education institutions in the West for academic year 2022-23, including changes in tuition and fee rates over the past one-, five-, and 10-academic year periods. Tuition and fee rates in the region appear to have stabilized over the past decade…

Analysis finds that out-of-pocket college costs are unaffordable for low-income Californians, and often more so at the state's community colleges where tuition is low. This analysis is the third in a series, and is the first to look at affordability challenges of students in different living arrangements. [Debbie Cochrane and Oliver Schak made…

This report provides comprehensive data about the tuition and fees prices published by public higher education institutions in the West for academic year 2021-22, including changes in tuition and fee rates over the past one-, five-, and 10-year periods. Key takeaways from this year's report include: (1) Average resident undergraduate tuition and…

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.

Colleges and universities increasingly rely on their websites to recruit students and convey information about tuition and costs of attendance. Given evidence of growing complexity in institutional tuition policies and cost-setting practices, the study examined how institutions' websites present financial information to the public. Through content…

This report provides comprehensive data about the tuition and fees prices published by public higher education institutions in the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) region for 2020-21, including changes in tuition and fee rates over the past one-, five-, and 10-year periods. Key takeaways from this year's report include:…

This publication is an overview of Higher Education in California to provide readers with a deeper understanding about how the public systems work. The primer outlines the mission, enrollment, cost of attendance, and governance and funding structure of each of California's public higher education systems. This resource also provides critical facts…

This report provides comprehensive data about the tuition and fee prices published by public higher education institutions in the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) region for 2019-2020, including changes in tuition and fee rates over the past one-, five-, and 10-year periods. In addition to total tuition and fees, the…

California voters ranked college affordability as the second most important education policy issue in the 2019 PACE/USC Rossier poll, a concern reflected in Governor Gavin Newsom's first budget proposal and in a number of bills currently progressing through the state legislature. Though desire for making college affordable is high among the…