STRUGGLING TO KEEP UP Since 1980, the total cost of both four-year public and private colleges has nearly tripled. Meanwhile, although Pell Grants once covered nearly 80% of the cost of four-year public college degrees for students from working families, they now only cover one-third.
tuition rates. According to Vollrath, rich econo- mies such as the U.S. tend to see faster rates of inflation for services such as education and health care when com- pared to manufactured goods because the cost of producing those goods diminishes over time. Vollrath said the second factor con- tributing to rising tuition costs has been a decrease in financial support from state governments. Between 2008-18, state spending for higher education in Texas dropped from $9,256 per student to $7,107—a 23.3% decrease, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “We’re getting around half the money we thought we might have been getting 20-30 years ago, and you have to account for it, so that ends up getting unloaded on the students usu- ally,” Vollrath said. During that same time frame, the average cost of tuition at four-year public colleges in Texas increased by $2,302, or 30.4%, CBPP data shows. “State schools are really like the anchor price of colleges and univer- sities, so if your anchor-price product is going up, it means that the private, more elite schools can raise their prices and still pass the laugh test,” Mayotte said. “But if you lower the cost of your state institutions, that hypothetically would force these pri- vate universities to lower [their cost] just to be competitive.” However, Vollrath said he did not think the blame should be directed solely at declining state contributions to higher education. “I think there are definitely things you can talk about on the university side,” he said, speaking generally about public colleges. “Why are uni- versities paying for things that seem to drive up tuition that don’t seem to contribute towards the baseline of educating students?” Plan basics As outlined in an Aug. 24 news release from the White House, Biden’s three-part plan will provide up to $20,000 in debt cancellation to Pell grant recipients with loans held by the Department of Education and up to $10,000 in debt cancellation to non- Pell Grant recipients. Individuals will be eligible for this relief if their income is less than $125,000 or $250,000 for married couples. Current students with loans will also be eligible for debt relief, however, borrowers who are dependents will be eligible based on
Public four-year university cost*
Maximum Pell Grant value**
$26,000 $20,000 $22,000 $24,000 $16,000 $18,000 $12,000 $14,000 $10,000 $2,000 $4,000 $6,000 $8,000
In 1980-81, Pell Grants covered nearly 80% of the cost of four-year public college degrees
In 2020-21, Pell Grants covered one-third of the cost of four-year public college degrees.
0
1980-81
1990-91
2000-01
2010-11
2020-21
*INCLUDES TUITION, REQUIRED FEES, BOOKS AND SUPPLIES, AND AVERAGE COST FOR ROOM, BOARD AND OTHER EXPENSES **TYPICALLY ONLY AWARDED TO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS WHO DISPLAY EXCEPTIONAL FINANCIAL NEED AND HAVE NOT EARNED A BACHELOR’S, GRADUATE OR PROFESSIONAL DEGREE; DO NOT HAVE TO BE REPAID EXPECT UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES
SOURCES: COLLEGE BOARD, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
FILING FOR FORGIVENESS The U.S. Department of Education is planning to launch an application for student loan forgiveness in early October. Those interested can sign up to be notified of application availability at www.ed.gov/subscriptions .
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
WHO NEEDS TO APPLY?
• Students who filed a 2021-22 Free Application for Federal Student Aid do not need to take any action. • Students who did not file a 2021-22 FASFA will need to complete a short application by Dec. 31 . Once a borrower competes the application, relief can be expected within 4-6 weeks .
• Individuals whose annual income falls below $125,000 • Married couples whose annual income falls below $250,000
HOW MUCH ARE THEY ELIGIBLE FOR?
• Pell Grant recipients who meet the income threshold are eligible for up to $20,000 in debt cancellation. • Non-Pell Grant recipients who meet the income threshold are eligible for up to $10,000 in debt cancellation.
For more information, visit www.studentaid.gov/debt-relief-announcement.
SOURCES: FEDERAL STUDENT AID/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
In the nine ZIP codes that make up the Spring and Klein area, data shows nearly 193,400 people age 18 and older have some college experience or higher, or roughly 66.7% of the local population age 18 and older. Locally, the cost of tuition for 24 credit hours at Lone Star College has increased by roughly 23%, between the 2012-13 and 2021-22 school years, while the average annual cost of tui- tion for first-year students at the Uni- versity of Houston has increased by approximately 21% within the same time frame. In hopes of providing relief, Presi- dent Joe Biden announced Aug. 24 he would issue an executive order that will enable nearly 43 million Ameri- cans to have up to $20,000 in federal student loans forgiven.
While the plan has been hailed by borrowers, experts said they fear the loan forgiveness will only lead to further tuition inflation. Betsy Mayotte, president of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, said while she supports the initiative, she believes it fails to address the root cause of the problem. “Everybody talks about the stu- dent loan crisis, and it exists, but it’s a symptom—not the problem,” May- otte said. “The problem is the cost of higher education, and this plan does nothing to address that.” Costly tuition Vollrath said inflation plays a role in the rising cost of attending college, but he also noted two additional fac- tors that have led to steadily rising
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out like crazy, and lots of colleges aren’t functionally much bigger than they used to be, so each spot is more expensive,” said Dietrich Vollrath, a professor and chair of the Depart- ment of Economics at the University of Houston. Federal Reserve System data shows more than 45 million borrowers nationwide have contributed to a cumulative student loan debt of roughly $1.75 trillion with more than $1.6 trillion of those loans issued by the federal government. In Texas, 52% of college graduates in the 2019-20 school year had taken on student loan debt with an average debt of $26,273, according to The Institute for College Access & Success.
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COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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