Marked up

New England Journal of Higher Education, The, Winter 2003

New England colleges continue to charge far higher prices than their counterparts elsewhere in the United States.

Average in-state tuition and mandatory fees at New England's four-year public institutions rose to $5,484 in 2002-03, up by $594 or nearly 11 percent over the previous year, according to the College Board's annual report on college costs. Nationally, in-state tuition and mandatory fees at four-year public institutions reached $4,081, up nearly 10 percent over the year before.

Meanwhile, average tuition and mandatory fees at New England four-- year private institutions hit $23,289, compared with $18,273 nationally. Both rose by about 5 percent over the previous year. (The Chronicle of Higher Education reported, meanwhile, that New England is home to five of the nation's 10 priciest private colleges.)

At New England's two-year public institutions, in-state tuition and mandatory fees rose to an average of $2,643, up by $362 or almost 14 percent. Nationally, in-state tuition and mandatory fees at two-year publics rose by 8 percent to an average of $1,735.

Like their counterparts nationally, New England's private two-year colleges hiked tuition and mandatory fees by 8 percent. But that translated into a $1,326 hike in New England, compared with $690 nationally.

The rate of inflation over the period was well under 2 percent. The College Board attributed the steep public tuition hikes to weak state tax support of higher education.

The University of Massachusetts Lowell, for one, announced it would have to rely more heavily on "nonstate sources of funding, including private fundraising, returns and commercial and intellectual property ventures ... and corporate education offerings, especially via the Web." But analysts noted that the torpid economy reduced other non-tuition revenues including charitable gifts.

Washington, D.C., higher education groups searched for a bright side and found it in student aid. The College Board's companion annual report on student aid notes that total aid funds nationally grew faster than college prices, rising by nearly 12 percent, to $90 billion. Grants grew faster than loans for the second year in a row. But over the decade, loans grew from 47 percent of all aid to 54 percent, while grants continued shrinking from 50 percent to 39 percent, with tax credits accounting for the rest of the aid.

College Board officials also noted that federal Pell Grants for financially needy students covered just 42 percent of public college charges last year, compared with 84 percent two decades ago.