In recent years, concerns regarding runaway college tuition and student loan debt have risen to the forefront of the public consciousness, undermining confidence in the value of a college degree. Ironically, the very issue that is now causing such alarm--high tuition--has been a signature feature of the financial model intentionally employed by…

"Student Debt and the Class of 2019" is The Institute for College Access & Success' (TICAS') fifteenth annual report on the student loan debt of recent graduates from four-year colleges, documenting changes and variation in student debt across states and colleges. This report includes federal policy recommendations to reduce debt…

Trends in tuition and financial aid policy have increased the number of students who borrow for higher education and the aggregate debt students acquire. Most research on student borrowing over the years has analyzed the effects of borrowing and the prospects of indebtedness on individual students' choices and persistence. However, dynamics at the…

Much of the research on economic stratification at selective colleges relies on data with limitations that tend to restrict how comprehensively or accurately studies can assess the incomes of students enrolled at selective universities, particularly over time. Studies that use quality data tend to find that the share of students at selective…

The recent economic recession threatened all traditional revenue sources possessed by colleges and universities. Resultant tuition increases have led stakeholders to demand greater accountability and fostered increased focus upon strategic financing from administrators. This dissertation examines the economic and political trends that have placed…

This paper highlights the importance of international students to the United States by discussing their impact and necessity to U.S. universities. International student enrollment is a major industry of importance to the U.S. economy and despite arduous visa processes and diminished job prospects their enrollment numbers continue to grow. The…

Both the published tuition and fee prices of colleges and universities and the net prices students pay after subtracting grant aid and tax credits and deductions continued to rise between 2016-17 and 2017-18, even after adjusting for inflation. Average net prices in 2017-18 remain lower at public two-year and private nonprofit four-year…

This report examines college and university finances during one of the most turbulent economic periods in decades. The financial ramifications of the 2008 recession were vast, affecting students' ability to pay for college, lawmakers' prioritization of public resources, and the budgetary environment facing higher education leaders. The challenges…

In 2016-17, published tuition and fee prices rose slightly less than the year before. The rapid price growth observed during the Great Recession has abated, as typically happens when the economy recovers, but the rate of increase in tuition and fees continues to exceed inflation. More notable, however, is the pattern of the net prices students…

The increases in tuition and fee prices in 2015-16 were, like the increases in the two preceding years, relatively small by historical standards. However, the very low rate of general inflation makes this year's increases in college prices larger in real terms than those of 2014-15 and 2013-14. Significantly, and perhaps counter to public…

This is one in a series of data briefs developed by the Delta Cost Project at AIR using data from the "IPEDS Analytics: Delta Cost Project Database 1987-2010," which was released on August 14, 2012, by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. The intent of these briefs is to update key tables and…

Between 2013-14 and 2014-15, average published tuition and fee prices increased by 2.9% for in-state students in the public four-year sector, by 3.3% for out-of-state students in the public four-year sector and for in-district students at public two-year colleges, and by 3.7% at private nonprofit four-year institutions. These increases are higher…

"Trends in College Spending: Where Does the Money Come from? Where Does It Go?", the second study from the Delta Project on Postsecondary Costs, Productivity, and Accountability, examines revenue and expenditure data for nearly 2,000 public and private non-profit colleges and universities (representing more than 75 percent of higher education…

Empirical studies exploring the impact of student aid on postsecondary enrollment often stop short of the specific examination of institutional tuition discounting. This research uses separate empirical ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models to examine three questions using public choice theory, positing that enrollment decisions may be…

The published prices on which the analysis in "Trends in College Pricing" is based come from data reported by institutions on the College Board's Annual Survey of Colleges. This survey, which is distributed to nearly 4,000 postsecondary institutions across the country, collects a wealth of data on enrollment, admission, degrees and…