This brief explores forces that have affected college tuition over the postwar period. College costs, general subsidies, and changes in the national distribution of income have all affected the trajectory of college tuition over time. The idea that more generous federal grants and loans cause upward pressure on list-price tuition has only been demonstrated conclusively at for-profit colleges. Public universities tend to pass most or all of any increase in federal aid back to students as a lower net price. At public and private colleges alike, list price tuition has risen more rapidly than the net price the average student pays. Rising list price reflects increasing affluence among high-income families relative to median-income and low-income families. This reflects the increasing use of tuition discounts, not soaring costs. Among the policy options, federal/state partnership programs offer one way to diminish or reverse state disinvestment in higher education, thereby tempering tuition increases over time. They are designed to give states stronger incentives to increase direct appropriations to public universities. One approach is to give states predictable block grants based on their level of spending per full-time equivalent student. This would reward states that have a demonstrated commitment to higher education while offering a monetary incentive to those that currently spend less.