Dive Brief:
- A report from the Urban Institute that examines public college pricing, funding levels per-student, and enrollment finds Wyoming has the lowest tuition for in-state students at four-year schools at $4,646.
- “Financing Public Higher Education: Variation Across States” identifies New Hampshire as having the highest average tuition cost in the nation at $14,712, and while the median income in New Hampshire is higher than in Wyoming, neither state is at the extreme when it comes to that metric.
- When it comes to charging students, the average out-of-state tuition was about 2.5 times that of in-state students, and the ratio was lowest in South Dakota (about 1.3 times) and highest in North Carolina, where out-of-state students pay nearly 3.4 times their in-state counterparts.
Dive Insight:
The Urban Institute report puts the actual tuition costs in context, reporting not only median family incomes, which represents college affordability, but also per-student funding from the state. In Alaska, the state allocates $18,550 per student, while in New Hampshire, it only gives $3,660 per student. Underinvestment at the state level has been identified as a key culprit in the rising costs of higher education for students. In terms of whether students leave the state for higher education, Mississippi keeps the vast majority of its students, with only 7% leaving for college, and Vermont loses the most — 51%.
The report emphasizes the considerable variability across states, reminding policymakers that national initiatives to address affordability and access must take this into account.