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AEP Online |
College Board Reports Continued Tuition IncreasesLast week the College Board released several Trends reports, including College Pricing, Student Aid, and Education Pays. According to their findings, students in public colleges will pay $12,796 a year on average for tuition, room, board, and fees during the 2006-07 school year. That is a 35 percent increase over the past five years, and though the yearly increases are slowing, there is no sign that they will end. Secretary Spellings expressed her frustration with the situation at a recent event at DePauw University in Indiana. "Tuition rose another 6 percent this year. As a mother of a college sophomore, I want to know why...and I know other parents do to!" she exclaimed when addressing the issue of college affordability. College degrees are becoming more important to the long term earning power of workers, according to the Education Pays Update. Education Pays documents the monetary and non-monetary benefits of higher education. They report that women ages 25-34 earned 70 percent more than their counterparts with a high school diploma in 2005. For men the difference was 63 percent. In total, college graduates earn $14,000 a year more than those with only the high school diploma. According to Spellings, 60 percent of Americans have no college degree even though 90 percent of the fastest growing occupations require a post secondary degree. "A college diploma is rapidly transforming from a nice-to-have to a must-have." She went on to describe how recommendations from her Commission on Higher Education would improve students' chances of getting in and being able to afford such a degree. 1. Adhere to the high standards and accountability as stated in NCLB. 2. Make sure college is affordable by reforming the student financial aid system. 3. Establish accountability for higher education institutions including transparency and a database that families can use to compare schools and educate themselves about what specific schools have to offer. The plan would include matching funds for colleges and universities that participate in her plan to collect and publicly report student learning information. She plans on convening a higher education summit this spring to begin to give form to her ideas. Questions, ideas, or in need of more information? Please contact Stacey Pusey at 856-241-7772. |
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