Average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose 6.6 percent this year, again outstripping increases in financial aid and pushing students into more borrowing. Community colleges once again did the best job keeping the lid on prices.
In-state students at four-year public schools are paying $6,185 this year, up $381 from last year, according to the nonprofit College Board's annual survey of college costs, released Monday.
In Minnesota, tuition increases stayed below 6.6 percent with Minnesota State University Moorhead and Minnesota State Community and Technical College both raising full-time tuition to no more than 4 percent.
MSUM's tuition increased by 4 percent while MSCTC's increased by 3.85 percent.
Officials for both colleges attribute the lower increase rates to a $1.36 billion higher education bill signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty earlier this year.
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In North Dakota, the state's Board of Higher Education set a 5 percent tuition increase cap in May for its 11 campuses.
That means a full-time student pays $5,013 in tuition this year compared with $4,774 in 2006-07.
At four-year private colleges, tuition and fees rose
6.3 percent to $23,712.
Church-owned Concordia College in Moorhead increased tuition just under the national average at 6.5 percent. Full-time students paid $22,350 for the 2007-08 school year compared to last year's $20,980 in tuition.
The published price is not the real price for many students.
On average, accounting for grants and tax breaks, full-time students are actually paying $2,577 this year to attend four-year public universities. That's $209 more than last year.
However, even the net price is still rising much faster than overall inflation.
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The net price at public universities is $560 higher, in 2007 dollars, than a decade ago. The five years have seen prices rise 31 percent above and beyond the general inflation rate for other goods and services - the worst record on college prices of any five-year period covered by the survey dating back 30 years.
Prices at two-year colleges, which educate about half of American college students, rose 4.2 percent to $2,361. Accounting for aid, their average net cost is only $320 per year. Area tuition, fee hikes fall below average 20071023
