While College Tuition Goes Up, College Grants Go Down

Published on Monday, November 8th, 2010 by Nohel Category: College News

(San Francisco, CA)- Based on the latest reports it is becoming apparent that costs of college tuition are on the rise and the amount of grants given to students is going down. College grants are now providing 34% of the costs of attending a four-year college but twenty years ago were providing 45% of the total cost. In-state tuition fees at public colleges has risen 7.9%, to the amount of $7,605. Private college tuition costs have also risen 4.5% and now cost $27,293. However, when factoring inflation these percentage increases are about halved. Still, the costs are growing at an alarming rate.

Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education, best described the current situation. She stated, “Just when Americans need college the most, many are finding it increasingly difficult to afford.” It is now more important then ever for students to maintain higher grades, involve themselves in multiple extracurricular activities and stay involved in their communities. The students that do all of the above are the students most likely to receive a large amount of aid and government grants.

Due to the current economic situation, more American families are looking to receive college grants from the Federal Government. However, there is only so much aid available and economic experts state that it is unlikely that more aid can be given to students unless colleges start cutting their operating costs or increase their tuition costs further.

Things are not completely bad. Some Students are receiving higher financial aid packages in the form of tax credits and benefits to veterans. The difference between grants and financial aid is that financial aid must be paid back to the government but government grants is money given to you that you do not need to be paid back.

Another positive note is that the Pell Grant program that offers aid to low-income students is providing much more aid now then in the previous years. The College Board reports that in the 2009 academic year, the program gave away $29.2 billion dollars to about 7.7 million students. That is an increase of $10 billion dollars when compared to 2008. Students that come from middle class are the ones that are suffering because the Pell Grant Program offers aid to students that only come from low-income households.