This book examines the true costs of attendance faced by low- and moderate-income students on four public college campuses, and the consequences of these costs on students’ academic pathways and their social, financial, health, and emotional well-being. The authors’ exploration of the true costs of academics, living expenses, and student services leads them to conclude that current college policies and practices do not support low-income and otherwise marginalized students’ well-being or success. To counter this, they suggest that reform efforts should begin by asking value-based questions about the goals of public higher education, and end by crafting class-responsive policies. They propose three tools that policymakers can use to do this work, and steps that every person can take to revitalize public support for public education, equity-producing policies, and democratic participation in the public arena.

This book examines the true costs of attendance faced by low- and moderate-income students on four public college campuses, and the consequences of these costs on students’ academic pathways and their social, financial, health, and emotional well-being. The authors’ exploration of the true costs of academics, living expenses, and student services leads them to conclude that current college policies and practices do not support low-income and otherwise marginalized students’ well-being or success. To counter this, they suggest that reform efforts should begin by asking value-based questions about the goals of public higher education, and end by crafting class-responsive policies. They propose three tools that policymakers can use to do this work, and steps that every person can take to revitalize public support for public education, equity-producing policies, and democratic participation in the public arena.

America’s colleges and universities are the best in the world. They are also the most expensive. Tuition has risen faster than the rate of inflation for the past thirty years. There is no indication that this trend will abate. Ronald G. Ehrenberg explores the causes of this tuition inflation, drawing on his many years as a teacher and researcher of the economics of higher education and as a senior administrator at Cornell University. Using incidents and examples from his own experience, he discusses a wide range of topics including endowment policies, admissions and financial aid policies, the funding of research, tenure and the end of mandatory retirement, information technology, libraries and distance learning, student housing, and intercollegiate athletics. He shows that colleges and universities, having multiple, relatively independent constituencies, suffer from ineffective central control of their costs. And in a fascinating analysis of their response to the ratings published by magazines such as U.S. News & World Report, he shows how they engage in a dysfunctional competition for students. In the short run, colleges and universities have little need to worry about rising tuitions, since the number of qualified students applying for entrance is rising even faster. But in the long run, it is not at all clear that the increases can be sustained. Ehrenberg concludes by proposing a set of policies to slow the institutions’ rising tuitions without damaging their quality.

Named one of the best books of 2021 by NPR New York Times Bestseller and a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice pick “Masterly . . .represents an extraordinary achievement: It is comprehensive and detailed without being tedious, practical without being banal, impeccably well judged and unusually rigorous.”—Daniel Markovits, New York Times Book Review “Ron Lieber is a gift.”—Scott Galloway The hugely popular New York Times Your Money columnist and author of the bestselling The Opposite of Spoiled offers a deeply reported and emotionally honest approach to the biggest financial decision families will ever make: what to pay for college—a decision made even more confusing because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sending a teenager to a flagship state university for four years of on-campus living costs more than $100,000 in many parts of the United States. Meanwhile, many families of freshmen attending selective private colleges will spend triple—over $300,000. With the same passion, smarts, and humor that infuse his personal finance column, Ron Lieber offers a much-needed roadmap to help families navigate this difficult and often confusing journey. Lieber begins by explaining who pays what and why and how the financial aid system got so complicated. He also pulls the curtain back on merit aid, an entirely new form of discounting that most colleges now use to compete with peers. While price is essential, value is paramount. So what is worth paying extra for, and how do you know when it exists in abundance at any particular school? Is a small college better than a big one? Who actually does the teaching? Given that every college claims to have reinvented its career center, who should we actually believe? He asks the tough questions of college presidents and financial aid gatekeepers that parents don’t know (or are afraid) to ask and summarizes the research about what matters and what doesn’t. Finally, Lieber calmly walks families through the process of setting financial goals, explaining the system to their children and figuring out the right ways to save, borrow, and bargain for a better deal. The Price You Pay for College gives parents the clarity they need to make informed choices and helps restore the joy and wonder the college experience is supposed to represent.

A “bracing and well-argued” study of America’s college debt crisis—“necessary reading for anyone concerned about the fate of American higher education” (Kirkus). College is far too expensive for many people today, and the confusing mix of federal, state, institutional, and private financial aid leaves countless students without the resources they need to pay for it. In Paying the Price, education scholar Sara Goldrick-Rab reveals the devastating effect of these shortfalls. Goldrick-Rab examines a study of 3,000 students who used the support of federal aid and Pell Grants to enroll in public colleges and universities in Wisconsin in 2008. Half the students in the study left college without a degree, while less than 20 percent finished within five years. The cause of their problems, time and again, was lack of money. Unable to afford tuition, books, and living expenses, they worked too many hours at outside jobs, dropped classes, took time off to save money, and even went without adequate food or housing. In many heartbreaking cases, they simply left school—not with a degree, but with crippling debt. Goldrick-Rab combines that data with devastating stories of six individual students, whose struggles make clear the human and financial costs of our convoluted financial aid policies. In the final section of the book, Goldrick-Rab offers a range of possible solutions, from technical improvements to the financial aid application process, to a bold, public sector–focused “first degree free” program. "Honestly one of the most exciting books I've read, because [Goldrick-Rab has] solutions. It's a manual that I'd recommend to anyone out there, if you're a parent, if you're a teacher, if you're a student."—Trevor Noah, The Daily Show

- Foreword - Editorial - Education's promise to all - Introduction: The Indicators and their Framework - Reader's guide - Executive summary - Equity in the Education Sustainable Development Goal - Indicator A1 To what level have adults studied? - Indicator A2 Transition from education to work: Where are today's youth? - Indicator A3 How does educational attainment affect participation in the labour market? - Indicator A4 What are the earnings advantages from education? - Indicator A5 What are the financial incentives to invest in education? - Indicator A6 How are social outcomes related to education? - Indicator A7 To What extent do adults participate equally in education and learning? - Indicator B1 Who participates in education? - Indicator B2 How do early childhood education systems differ around the world? - Indicator B3 Who is expected to graduate from upper secondary education? - Indicator B4 Who is expected to enter tertiary education? - Indicator B5 Who is expected to graduate from tertiary education? - Indicator B6 What is the profile of internationally mobile students? - Indicator B7 How equitable are entry and graduation in tertiary education? - Indicator C1 How much is spent per student on educational institutions? - Indicator C2 What proportion of national wealth is spent on educational institutions? - Indicator C3 How much public and private investment on educational institutions is there? - Indicator C4 What is the total public spending on education? - Indicator C5 How much do tertiary students pay and what public support do they receive? - Indicator C6 On what resources and services is education funding spent? - Indicator C7 Which factors influence teachers' salary cost? - Indicator D1 How much time do students spend in the classroom? - Indicator D2 What is the student-teacher ratio and how big are classes? - Indicator D3 How much are teachers and school heads paid? - Indicator D4 How much time do teachers spend teaching? - Indicator D5 Who are the teachers? - Indicator D6 Who makes key decisions in education systems? - Characteristics of Education Systems - Reference Statistics - Sources, Methods and Technical Notes - Australia - Austria - Belgium - Canada - Chile - Czech Republic - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Germany - Greece - Hungary - Iceland - Ireland - Israel - Italy - Japan - Korea - Latvia - Luxembourg - Mexico - Netherlands - New Zealand - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Slovak Republic - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Turkey - United Kingdom - United States - Argentina - Brazil - China - Colombia - Costa Rica - India - Indonesia - Lithuania - Russian Federation - Saudi Arabia - South Africa - Ibero-American countries

College tuition has risen more rapidly than the overall inflation rate for much of the past century. To explain rising college cost, the authors place the higher education industry firmly within the larger economic history of the United States.