Dive Brief:

• An analysis shows that the average net prices colleges charge to the lowest-income students are rising faster than those for higher-income students
• The 100 higher education institutions that participated in a White House summit in January to expand opportunities for low-income students raised their prices by 10% for the poorest families from the 2008-09 through 2012-13 school years, the most recent data available — and only 5% for wealthier students.
• At the University of Virginia, the net tuition price for its poorest students rose 69% over the period studied, compared to 21% for wealthier students, the Huffington Post reported.

Dive Insight:

The analysis by the Dallas Morning News and the Hechinger Report is based on figures from the U.S. Department of Education. To be fair, the White House summit took place more than a year after the most recent numbers analyzed, so it’s possible that the institutions that participated have improved their track record. The bottom line is that universities are handing out a lot of merit aid to students from wealthy families who don’t need it and not enough financial aid to students who do need it, according to the nonpartisan Century Foundation think tank.