Dive Brief:

• An analysis by The Boston Globe shows the net costs of attending top private colleges in Massachusetts rose acutely from 2008 to 2013.
• The net annual price of attending after factoring in financial aid and grants rose by more than 15% in the five-year period for 11 of the 33 colleges analyzed by the newspaper.
• The median net price for the colleges analyzed rose 10.5% to $29,481 from 2008 to 2013 — the most recent year for which numbers were available.

Dive Insight:

The Globe story notes that the net price increases outpaced inflation over the five-year period, while median family incomes remained flat nationally. The sticker price, or total published cost of attending, for top private colleges in Massachusetts rose 15% in the five-year period ending with the 2012-2013 school year, to $56,000 per year. The colleges with the largest net increases in the newspaper’s analysis included Williams College, up 47% to $19,503; Mount Holyoke College, up 24% to $29,481; Curry College, up 21% to $33,537; and Tufts University, up 19.5% to $27,142. Schools in the state where the average net price decreased included Hampshire College, Harvard University, Suffolk University, Wellesley College, Simmons College, and Northeastern University.