DaytonDailyNews.com

site web

DAYTON — — Students and parents paying for college this year are feeling tuition increases in their pocketbooks, according to an annual report on college affordability released Tuesday.

While the increase in the price of college slowed some this fall, those prices rose faster than inflation — and finanical aid, a crucial factor for low- and middle-income families, isn't keeping up.

Tuition and fees at public four-year public colleges for 2006-07 rose $344, or 6.3 percent, to an average of $5,836, according to the College Board's annual Trends in College Pricing report.

Accounting for inflation, that increase was 2.4 percent, the lowest in six years.

But while "sticker"or published prices are still up 35 percent compared with five years ago, "it's really the net price that matters," said Sandy Baum, senior policy analyst at the board. "The rapid increases are ... in net prices."

Net price is what students pay after average grant aid and tax benefits, and is the best measure of affordability.

"We're seeing a stagnation in federal grant aid," Baum said, pointing to a drop last year in total Pell grants to $12.7 billion, down from $13.6 billion in 2004-05.

The major trends this year in college affordability:

• Private four-year colleges saw average tuition and fees rise 5.9 percent, to $22,218. Net price is $13,200.

• Public two-year colleges, which educate nearly half of American college students, had the lowest increases. Their sticker prices rose 4.1 percent to $2,272.

• After counting grant aid, the average net cost of four-year public college rose 8 percent to $2,700.

• The average Pell grant per student fell $120.

• Private student loans total $17.3 billion, growing about 27 percent each year since 2000. Families are getting 20 percent of their loans through private banks instead of federal loans.

• Median student debt among 2003-04 bachelor's degree recipients was $19,300.

Talk what you think is driving up college costs.