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Columbus
Dispatch
College
costs rise just 3% in Ohio
By Encarncion Pyle
Wednesday October 24, 2012
Over
the past five years, in-state tuition and
fees at Ohio’s public universities rose an average of 3 percent, the
second-lowest increase in the country after Maryland, a new report
finds.
But
students at the state’s four-year schools
are still paying a lot of money: an average of $9,190, despite tuition
limits
that go back to 2007-08. That’s more than 6 percent higher than the
national
average of $8,655, according to the College Board’s annual pricing and
student-aid reports being released today.
At
$3,816, students at Ohio’s public two-year
schools are paying roughly 9 percent more than they paid five years ago
and
nearly 22 percent more than the national average.
“Universities
need to continue to look for
efficiencies,” Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Jim Petro said
yesterday.
“Tuition cannot continue to keep going up.”
Students
have several low-cost options, such as
taking college-level courses while still in high school and starting
their
bachelor’s degree at a cheaper community college, he said. And though
Ohio
students are paying more, on average, than many of their peers across
the
United States, Petro said, the smaller increases are helping the state
become
more financially competitive.
The
price of college nationwide, meanwhile,
climbed 4.8 percent
at four-year public schools. That’s considerably slower growth than the
roughly
8 percent annual increases in the previous two years, said the report’s
author,
Sandy Baum, an economist and senior fellow at George Washington
University.
Add
the cost of room and board, and the total
price tag for the average student at a public university jumps up to
nearly
$18,000 a year.
Prices
at U.S. two-year schools went up 5.8 percent,
to $3,131, but that’s still relatively low compared with the four-year
schools,
Baum said. Private, nonprofit colleges climbed an average of 4.2 percent,
rising to $29,056. And estimated costs at for-profit schools increased 3 percent,
rising to $15,172.
The
good news: About two-thirds of students
receive grants in aid, and some of the remaining one-third are helped
by
federal tax credits and deductions that can bring students’ actual
costs well
below advertised prices.
Read
the rest of the article at Columbus
Dispatch
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