Rising Costs Making It Hard for Students, Particularly of Color, to Afford College

While state disinvestment in public higher education has helped drive rising tuition across the country, as we explain in our new report, tuition is rarely the total price that college students face.

In fact, students face a range of other significant expenses — not only housing and food (sometimes referred to as “room and board”), but also transportation, books and other supplies, and even child care. While students often receive federal Pell grants or other financial aid to help offset some of these costs, this assistance has not kept pace with rising tuition and other costs.

Since the 2008 school year, the net price — published tuition and fees, room and board, and books and supplies minus the average aid that a student received — at public four-year institutions across the country has risen by 24 percent, or roughly $2,920 after adjusting for inflation. Increases of this magnitude can deter students from attending schools they believe will be too costly, or from applying to college altogether.

This net price represents a significant share of many families’ annual earnings. In 2017, the average net price of a public four-year institution accounted for 23 percent of a family’s median household income nationwide.

This net price accounted for at least 25 percent of median household pay in 26 states (see table below). But this measure of affordability has stark racial disparities, since Black and Hispanic family members often face additional barriers to employment and difficulty accessing better-paying jobs.

• For white households, the net price accounted for at least 25 percent of median household income in just 16 states;
• For Black households, it did in 36 states (of a total of 38 states with sufficient data to assess); and
• For Hispanic households, it did in 36 states (of a total of 46 states with sufficient data to assess).

To ensure that more students — regardless of race or class — can access and afford college, lawmakers must go beyond addressing rising tuition and ease the burden of other costs to attending while also boosting aid for students with the most financial need.