> Skip to content
FEATURED:
  • Student Success Resource Center
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
ADVERTISEMENT
datapoint02.png

Data Points

Stories, not statistics.

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Show more sharing options
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Copy Link URLCopied!
  • Print

Tuition and Fees Rise, but Cost of Living—by Colleges’ Estimate—Falls

By  Jonah Newman
July 10, 2014

As usual, the U.S. Department of Education is a bit behind when it comes to data.

Published tuition and fees increased by about 4 percent at public and private nonprofit four-year colleges and by nearly 5 percent at public two-year colleges from 2011-12 to 2013-14, when adjusted for inflation, according to a new release from the National Center for Education Statistics.

We’re sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows javascript and allows content to be delivered from c950.chronicle.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.

Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

As usual, the U.S. Department of Education is a bit behind when it comes to data.

Published tuition and fees increased by about 4 percent at public and private nonprofit four-year colleges and by nearly 5 percent at public two-year colleges from 2011-12 to 2013-14, when adjusted for inflation, according to a new release from the National Center for Education Statistics.

The preliminary data were collected from about 7,400 postsecondary institutions in the fall of 2013 through the Integrated Postsecondary Education System, known as Ipeds.

On-campus room and board rose at about the same rate as tuition, while off-campus room and board rose by less than 1 percent at public and private nonprofit four-year colleges and fell by about 1 percent at public two-year colleges.

But we knew all of that already: The College Board released data in October for tuition, fees, room, and board in 2013-14 that showed roughly the same trends in the cost of attendance, or COA.

ADVERTISEMENT

What’s new from Ipeds is data on the average cost of books, supplies, and other expenses, including, for example, laundry, transportation, and entertainment. Those figures, estimated by financial-aid offices, actually dropped from 2011-12 to 2013-14 at all types of four-year institutions, when adjusted for inflation.

The average cost of books and supplies fell by nearly 2 percent at public four-year colleges, by less than 1 percent at private nonprofit colleges, and by more than 9 percent at private for-profit colleges.

The “other expenses” category varies, depending on whether students live on campus, off campus without family, or off campus with family. But the amount dropped by about 4 percent at public four-year institutions and about 3 percent at private nonprofit institutions.

How could the cost of books, supplies, and other expenses not be at least keeping up with inflation? Robert J. Kelchen, an assistant professor of education leadership, management, and policy at Seton Hall University, tweeted one theory this morning:

New NCES report (http://t.co/tjEFSrjfXf) shows tuition/room & board up 3-5% in last 2 yrs. All other COA components lower ... gaming numbers?

—Robert Kelchen (@rkelchen) July 10, 2014

“It doesn’t seem, given economic conditions, that those numbers have actually gone down,” Mr. Kelchen said in an interview.

ADVERTISEMENT

Financial-aid officials balked at the notion that they would cook the numbers.

“I’ve never known of anyone who has suggested that that is either appropriate or a good idea,” said Susan Murphy, senior associate dean of academic and enrollment services at the University of San Francisco.

“Sooner or later, reality kicks in, and students are going to come back to you and say, ‘This isn’t working. You said I only would spend $1,000 on books, but I’m actually spending three times that,’” she said.

We’ve written before about inconsistencies in how different colleges calculate the cost of living and other expenses. The new data suggest that there may also be problems with how colleges adjust their estimates over time.

Ms. Murphy said her office reviews its estimates for books and other expenses every two years or so, using surveys and informal studies—for example, asking the students who work in the financial-aid office—to gauge how much students are spending in those areas. There are no federal guidelines for how colleges are supposed to do that.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Right now the federal regulations list what components should be part of cost of attendance, but do not specify a particular way of arriving at those costs,” Ms. Murphy said. “I think it would be very, very complicated for them to come up with something that’s fair.”

One factor in the drop may be changes in how students get access to course materials, Ms. Murphy said. Students who buy or rent books online might be reducing the cost of books and supplies, and financial-aid offices may be adjusting their estimates accordingly.

Those incidental expenses, however, make up a relatively small percentage of the overall cost of attendance: about 15 percent at four-year public colleges and 10 percent at four-year private nonprofit colleges.

So why is this important? Because the total cost of attendance is used to calculate a college’s net price, what students pay after grants and other aid. Net price is increasingly used to give prospective students an idea of how much a given college will actually cost, and it is likely to be incorporated into the Obama administration’s forthcoming college-ratings system.

If the cost of attendance is off by even a few hundred dollars, it could affect how much a student has to pay out of pocket to cover his or her total cost.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I’d like to know more on how colleges are calculating these expenses,” Mr. Kelchen said. “Are they doing it with a representative sample of students? Or are they doing it with the net price in mind?”

Jonah Newman
Jonah Newman was a database reporter for The Chronicle.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
    Explore
    • Get Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Find a Job
  • The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
    The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Write for Us
    • Talk to Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • User Agreement
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Site Map
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
    Customer Assistance
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Post a Job
    • Advertising Terms and Conditions
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
    Subscribe
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Manage Your Account
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2023 The Chronicle of Higher Education
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin