Dive Brief:

• A new study by Harvard's Claudia Goldin and George Washington University's Stephanie Riegg Cellini, cite by the New York Times, shows that the average cost of attending a for-profit college that receives federal aid is 78% higher than a for-profit college that doesn’t, with the price difference equaling the federal subsidy.
• Taxpayers pay an average of $11,400 per year for each community college student, nearly $4,000 more than they do for a for-profit college student.
• The per-year cost for students for a for-profit college is $51,600 for tuition, foregone earnings, and loan interest — nearly $20,000 more than for a community college, according to the study.

Dive Insight:

The New York Times article also cites a study that shows every additional dollar the federal government spends in Pell Grant funding creates a 17-cent cut in institutional aid. Also, the percentage of Americans age 25 to 34 with a college degree rose to 44% in 2012, up 6% from 2000. But for 30 industrialized countries tracked by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the average increase for the same period was 14%, rising to 40%.