One of the comments on last week’s post asked for a map of tuition. Below are maps of the enrollment-weighted, average tuition by state for (1) all colleges, (2) four-year colleges, and (3) two-year colleges.

There is a lot of interesting information buried in these maps, but three things jumped out at me.

First, tuition tends to be highest inContinue Reading »

My last post looked at where students cluster and found that students congregate at lower-cost colleges. In the comments, Les Schmidt asked about whether this was a new phenomenon or if this is just the way it’s always been. We looked into that question by plotting tuition (in inflation-adjusted 2012 dollars) and enrollment (total full-time equivalent) in five-year increments for both public, fContinue Reading »

In-state price tags. With new legislation, Oregon joins about a dozen other states that give in-state tuition to undocumented high school graduates. (The Oregonian)

College fees take on new names—and add up. The “stealth, second tuition” of seemingly random fees—like Howard University’s $100 “globalization fee” for study abroad programs, whether students participate or not—frustrate studContinue Reading »

Both the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed covered the details of my new study on teaching loads. But the critics so far probably need to read the report more closely. A case in point is in the IHE story:

Rudy Fichtenbaum, president of the American Association of University Professors, noted that the report starts by stating that faculty salarContinue Reading »

Rising college tuition has been a “crisis” for much of the 15 years I have covered higher education as a journalist. But that crisis has now reached a fever pitch with President Obama dedicating parts of the last two State of the Union addresses to the issue, pricey private colleges cutting their tuition or putting in place other creative pricing models, and nearly every institution talking aboContinue Reading »

The average tuition or the average debt load conveys a lot of important information. But averages can also obscure just how much variation there often is in the cost of higher education. Tuition is a good case in point. Below is a box and whisker plot of tuition at four-year colleges.

A quick refresher on reading a box and whisker plot for those of you who haven’t seen one in a while (skContinue Reading »

With college tuition ever-increasing, it’s no wonder financial aid—and access to it – is growing in importance. Student loans get a lot of (deserved) attention, but grants are important too. The three graphs below show average grant aid broken down by type: federal, state and local, and institutional (funded by the college, e.g. tuition discounts) at public four year, public two year, and privaContinue Reading »

After putting colleges and universities on notice about rising tuition at last year’s State of the Union, President Obama used this year’s SOTU to “call on Congress to consider value, affordability, and student outcomes in making determinations about which colleges and universities receive access to federal student aid.”

Since college affordability is a recurring theme, we thought it wouContinue Reading »

New ideas face an uphill battle not only because of legitimate concerns, but also because of humanity’s tendency to be uncomfortable with change – a phenomenon known as status quo bias.

Higher education financing is no exception, as illustrated by John Villasenor’s op-ed defending the idea that all majors should be charged the same tuition (Florida recently proposed charging different tuContinue Reading »

Evaluating the effectiveness of PD. Professional development is often rated based on whether teachers enjoyed it, but should it be judged in other ways? Could it be linked to achievement? (The Hechinger Report)

They got this. Officials in San Diego and San Jose are taking it upon themselves to address pension woes, as policymakers in Sacramento stall on the issue. Education Sector’s SaraContinue Reading »