Dive Brief:
- Average net tuition and fees for first-time, full-time students at private nonprofit colleges increased about 2% year over year to $16,510 for the 2024-25 academic year when adjusted for inflation, according to a study released Monday by the nonprofit College Board. However, that remains well below levels seen over most of the past two decades.
- At public four-year institutions, average net tuition and fees for in-state first-year students attending full time declined by 2% to $2,480 when adjusted for inflation. As with private colleges, net tuition and fees in 2024 dollars remain well below levels seen before the 2020-21 year.
- Net tuition and fees for full-time, first-year students at two-year public colleges dropped about 3% to -$710, meaning students received aid packages larger than the sticker price. That figure continues a frequent history of negative net tuition and fees at community colleges since 2006-7, the earliest year in the study.
Dive Insight:
While rising sticker prices for college tuition catch eyes, many institutions in recent years have had to discount heavily with institutional aid as they compete over a shrinking pool of traditional-age college students.
For all of the institution types above, grant dollars per student remained flat from the previous academic year and well above what they were in the late aughts, when accounting for inflation.
Meanwhile, sticker prices rose for every category of institution for the current year before adjusting for inflation, according to the College Board’s findings.
At private nonprofits, sticker prices were up 3.9% from last year before inflation. Their average sticker price for tuition and fees — $43,350 — was more than two and a half times their average net price.
“Changes in sticker prices tend to garner the most media attention,” the study’s authors noted. “However, it is important to note that most undergraduate students do not pay the full sticker price.”
The net tuition prices students pay vary depending on their economic background and choice of college. At very selective four-year public institutions in 2019-20, for example, 79% of students from families with less than $40,000 in income received enough grant aid to cover their tuition and fees, per the report.
At very selective private institutions, 47% of students with similar backgrounds received enough aid to cover tuition and fees, as did 41% at private institutions with open enrollment.
The total net cost of attendance in 2024 dollars — which includes housing costs as well as projected expenses for things like transportation and books — increased in 2024-25 at two-year and four-year public institutions as well as private colleges.
Driving the sluggish pace of net tuition pricing in part is the enrollment landscape. Between 2019 and 2022, total enrollment declined by 12% at public two-year institutions, 2% at four-year publics and 1% in the for-profit sector, while enrollment remained roughly flat at private nonprofits, according to College Board’s analysis of federal data.
“Enrollment changes have a direct impact on tuition revenues and the financial health of institutions,” the report noted. “Due to enrollment challenges and the end of Covid-19 relief funding, several colleges have announced cuts to programs and majors, and a number of small private colleges with low enrollments have closed.”