In the News

Transparency in Tuitions

America needs a system in which colleges and universities are required to provide students with transparency and certainty about college tuition.

You’re a high school senior and you’ve just been accepted to New York University, your dream school. You and your parents have carefully calculated what getting your bachelor’s degree is going to cost you.

Or so you thought. It turns out NYU covers nearly three-quarters of the financial need for incoming freshman, but just 60 percent of need over the course of a four-year education. And it’s not just NYU. At Sarah Lawrence College, for instance, the price students pay after subtracting grant aid increased by $14,000 over the last four school years. The college now asks families earning $30,000 or less to pay nearly $23,000 for one year of school.

The above excerpt was originally published in Democracy Journal. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

 (Neera Tanden)

Neera Tanden

Former President and CEO of the Center for American Progress

Ben Miller

Vice President, Postsecondary Education