03/01/2023
From our long-time pal in Washington State, Keith Hoeller.
Are you still paying off student loans? Here' some math: In the 2020-2021 academic year, the College Board found that 51% of students who graduated from public four-year institutions left with federal debt averaging more than $21,000 per person.
In the 1968-1969 academic year, adjusted for inflation, it cost $1,545 to attend a public, four-year institution, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_330.10.asp . This includes tuition, fees, room and board. That’s compared with $29,033 in the 2020-2021 school year, data shows.
If education costs had remained in line with inflation, that number would be around $12,000 per year.
College tuition has risen almost 300 percent more than the cost of inflation.
The primary purpose of the Digest of Education Statistics is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest includes a selection of data from many sources, both government and private, and dr...
