Study says tuition at public colleges taking bigger bite

Tuition at the nation's public colleges and universities took an ever-bigger bite out of family income between 1980 and 2000, outpacing financial aid and state support, a study released Thursday says.

Hardest hit were the poorest families, according to findings of The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, an independent, nonprofit think tank in San Jose, Calif.

The center promotes policies that expand opportunities for higher education.

In 1980, average tuition for one student at a four-year state school equaled 13 percent of the median income for a family in the bottom 20 percent of income levels, the study found. Twenty years later, tuition at such institutions equaled 25 percent of income for such families.

While others have reported about the steadily rising cost of higher learning -- a fact well known to any parent of college-age children and adults returning to school -- the report is the first to examine tuition relative to income, according to Patrick Callan, president of the center.

The study, which relied on various federal and state statistics, focused on public institutions -- both two- and four-year state colleges and universities -- since those are the schools that roughly 80 percent of America's college students attend.

Income groups studied

Not all income groups saw tuition take more of their earnings.

The wealthiest saw no change at all; between 1980 and 2000, the cost of sending a student to a public, four-year institution remained at 2 percent of income for the richest 20 percent of families.

Those families between the top and bottom income brackets saw tuition at state schools take more of their income, though the increase wasn't as steep as it was for the poorest Americans, the study found.

In 1980, tuition ranged from 3 percent to 6 percent of income for the middle groups. Two decades later, tuition took 5 percent to 11 percent of income, the study found.

Similar patterns were found when the study examined tuition at much-less costly community colleges.

Rising prices still don't deter most people from college. More than 65 percent of high school graduates are going straight to college, according to latest federal figures.

However, many students are borrowing more, working more while at school, seeking less expensive campuses and taking fewer courses, which can slow progress toward a diploma, Callan said in an interview.

If the trends continue "you have to ask how much can families do before we start discouraging people," he said.

The study also found the sharpest tuition increases were imposed at public campuses when the economy was weakest. At the same time, government efforts to lessen the financial pain for students and their families fell short, the study says.

Overall, state support for higher education rose 13 percent between 1980 and 1998, and federal help in that period rose 53 percent. Yet tuition at state schools soared even higher -- 107 percent when adjusted for inflation, from $1,696 per student to $3,512, the study says.

Williams College professor Gordon Winston, an expert on the economics of higher education, said the study points up a central question about educational opportunity for the poorest Americans.

The brightest youngsters can easily find a good school and help to pay for it, he said. But "what about the average kid?" Winston said. "What happens to them?"

--------

On the Net:

National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education: http://www.highereducation.org