Tuition at public universities has skyrocketed, with an increase of about 200 percent since the 1980s. However, a new study released by Tulane University and co-authored by assistant economic professor Emily Cook, says that while high and upper-middle-income families are taking a hit, more financial aid is finding its way to low and middle-income students.
“We find that when you actually look at the net tuition paid after grant aid, that it actually decreased, especially in recent years, for certain income groups,” she said.
Cook says there haven’t been any significant changes in state or federal aid guidelines, so the driver has been a shift in mindset by institutions as they work to attract more students to campus.
“It’s mostly driven by institutional aid policies,” Cook added. “Institutions are just giving more aid to low-income students while raising tuition prices for higher-income students.”
Unfortunately, there is still a gap where the funding isn’t always getting to the students it’s intended for. Cook says that there has to be greater awareness of what resources are available to families and what the real cost of education is for students seeking need-based aid.
“Still you see low-income families making a very low proportion of enrollment at four-year research institutions,” said Cook. “So there’s still a concern there.”
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