College education ‘remains affordable,’ panel member says

Tuesday, Feb. 23, 1999 | 11:35 a.m.

The cost of going to college is rising at about twice the national rate of inflation, but an analyst for the College Board says it is still within reach of the average person.

"College remains affordable on the face of it when you look at where the bulk of students are going," Lawrence Gladieux, an analyst with the College Board, said Monday.

The board, which administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the primary college admission examination, released figures Monday in Las Vegas showing that the price of going to college rose an average of 4 percent in 1998 while inflation was about 1.5 percent.

The rise in tuition and fees ranged from $66 a year at a public, two-year college to $723 at a private, four-year college, according to figures released Monday by the College Board.

For a public, four-year institution, the 4 percent rise represented $132 more on average tuition and fees of $3,243.

The College Board is holding a three-day conference through today at the Alexis Park resort in Las Vegas. The board represents colleges, universities and educational associations and publishes guides to colleges and financial aid.

"For the great majority of students and families coping with the expense, it may not be overwhelming," Gladieux told the educators.

According to figures released by the College Board in the fall, more than 70 percent of America's full-time undergraduate college students attend institutions that have tuition less than $8,000 per year. More than 50 percent of those attend institutions where tuition is less than $4,000 per year.

About 6 percent pay $20,000 a year or more for tuition.

"We make higher education more widely available to a larger percentage of the country than any other nation in the world," Gladieux said.

Financial aid also has grown, offsetting some of the increases, the College Board said in a report accompanying the news of the 1998 cost increase. But students are borrowing more and getting fewer grants. Neediest students are suffering most.

Attending a public, four-year college or university cost 62 percent of a low-income family's earnings and 17 percent of a middle-income family's earnings last year, the most recent year for which numbers were available.

The survey of 3,000 institutions found:

During Monday's session, at which college pricing and student aid were discussed, many administrators noted that while it is true the direct cost of college is increasing, so are the indirect costs.