(COMTEX) U.S. College Tuition Jumps 14 Percent, Study Says ( The Herald-Sun - Knight R
dder/Tribune Business News )
CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Oct 22, 2003 (The Herald-Sun - Knight Ridder/Tribune
Business News via COMTEX) -- In proposing a one-year freeze on tuition, public
university officials tried late last year to give students and their families a
break from the rising cost of higher education.
It didn't happen, but the 5 percent tuition increase legislators eventually
issued to all UNC system students for the current year, with fee increases in
addition, now appears relatively mild compared to increases in college costs
nationally.
For the 2003-04 academic year, college tuition and fees increased an average of
$579 -- or 14.1 percent -- at the nation's public four-year institutions,
according to The College Board's annual Trends in College Pricing report.
Released Tuesday, the report indicated that public institutions -- community
colleges and four-year schools -- have been hit hardest by the lagging economy
and related reductions in state expenditures.
And tuition and fee levels at private institutions continue to rise as well, to
the tune of a 6 percent increase this year nationwide, according to the report.
But there is some good news. Colleges and universities appear to recognize the
deleterious effects of rising costs; they paid out a record $105 billion in
financial aid last year, $13 billion more than was distributed the previous
year.
"Families are faced with the dilemma of increased costs of college while
recognizing the rising value of a college education," Gaston Caperton, president
of The College Board, said Tuesday at a Washington, D.C., press conference
announcing the report's findings. "It is critical that families realize that a
college education is within reach -- because of financial aid."
Local universities say their financial aid programs have helped to significantly
mitigate the impact of rising college costs. At Duke University, about 43
percent of undergraduates receive grant money; at UNC, officials recently
unveiled a new initiative that would provide a debt-free undergraduate education
to low-income students. Traditionally, state universities in North Carolina have
had low tuition compared to those in other states.
"I think we're ahead of the curve in that our tuition is low, so when we've had
to raise tuition, our increases have been on a lower base," said UNC system Vice
President Gretchen Bataille, a trustee of The College Board. "I don't think
we're pricing ourselves out of the education market."
On a national level, educators feel a sticker shock problem exists. Because of
the increasing investment universities are making in financial aid, the true
cost of college is a great deal less for many students than what they may think.
In the report, The College Board differentiated -- for the first time -- the
average net cost of college when financial aid is factored in. Doing that, a
rosier picture emerges.
About 60 percent of the nation's undergraduate college students receive some
sort of financial aid, and while a significant chunk of it is in the form of
loans, more than $40 billion in grant money was given out last year, the report
states. It estimates that, in 2002-03, grant aid averaged about $2,400 per
student at public universities and about $7,300 per student at private
institutions.
Duke University uses what is known as a "high tuition/high aid" pricing model in
which tuition is expensive but is reduced considerably for needy students.
"More than 40 percent of undergraduates are on financial aid, which means
they're not paying [total tuition]," said Duke spokesman John Burness. "You're
talking about, for a reasonable number of students, a heavily discounted
number."
Current tuition and fees at Duke this year total $29,345. But the average grant
for qualified students tops $20,000, Burness said.
For North Carolinians attending UNC's public universities this year, tuition and
fees totaled just less than $4,000. While tuition has risen dramatically over
the last several years at the state's public four-year institutions, it still
appears to be a relative bargain. UNC Chapel Hill, the state's flagship
university, was recently named the nation's best value among public colleges by
Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine for the fourth straight year.
Of course, magazine acclaim matters little to students when they're paying their
own way through college. Tuition at UNC Chapel Hill is expected to rise again
next year, and it will likely do so at a higher rate than the 5 percent hike
approved by the state legislature for the current school year.
A campus task force recently backed a plan to raise tuition $300 a year in each
of the next three years to raise money for faculty, staff and teaching assistant
salaries. That alone would increase tuition by about 10 percent, but there could
be a second, across-the-board tuition hike for all public university campuses as
well. The task force did not deal with student fees, which are considered each
year by UNC's Board of Trustees.
"It's an extreme compromise for students to make, but we want our faculty to be
compensated and we want good TAs [teaching assistants]," Matt Tepper, UNC's
student body president, said of the $300 increase plan. "This year, we're
probably going to see some pretty significant [overall] increases."
While colleges and universities do continue to put a great deal of money into
financial aid, programs targeting low-income students aren't emphasized, the
report stated. Caperton, the board's president, called for a new national
commitment to higher education and aid for low-income students.
"College was meant to open doors, not to close doors," he said. "It must be a
pathway, and remain a pathway, to the American dream."
Carolina officials would argue that they're doing their part to keep that
doorway open. The Carolina Covenant, unveiled earlier this month, is a financial
aid program targeting low-income high school students who might not even apply
to Carolina for fear that it's too expensive.
Under the program, students who qualify could work in a work-study job during
college and graduate without carrying any debt.
By Eric Ferreri
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(c) 2003, The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Business News.
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