Finance & Policy News

Average tuition and fees at public four-year colleges is $7,605 per year for in-state students and $11,990 for full-time out-of-state students, according to a 2010 report from CollegeBoard, a nonprofit organization that researches higher education trends. Time for plan B. Public two-year colleges charge an average of $2,713 per year in tuition and fees. In addition to utilizing community colleges, other methods are being explored...

Much of what the federal government does to help college students is in indirect support, through grants, loans and jobs, which affect people attending private as well as public colleges. Yet that level of support can't keep pace with demand, much less the super-inflationary flow of tuition and other college costs. The imbalance is birthing a generation of graduates defined more by overbearing debt than its preparation for...

A group of lawyers has filed suits against a dozen different law schools accusing them of using rosy, and grossly distorted, jobs data to dupe students into applying. They followed three similar suits filed last year. Yes, these cases sound like a bad joke - If a law school loses a suit to its recently graduated students, does that make it a terrible law school or a great one' - but they offer a lesson that the administration...

In the United States, it is illegal to pay recruiters for each student they bring in - a practice outlawed 20 years ago because of widespread abuse by agents who signed up anyone they could, regardless of academic potential.But the use of commissioned agents to recruit international students remains a highly divisive, hotly debated issue in higher education circles.

There's no doubt rising college tuition costs are making it harder for more students to enroll in school and stay there until graduation. And Mr. Obama is right that schools need to be smarter about controlling costs without sacrificing quality. But withdrawing federal aid from schools that fail to hold down costs would need to be done carefully, lest it produce just the opposite of the intended result. Everyone wants college...

President Obama's proposed reform plan would require colleges that receive federal aid to create "a scoreboard" that gives actual costs, graduation rates and potential earnings for graduates. His idea for establishing a $1 billion fund to provide grants to states that improve graduation rates and reduce costs is a good one. Determining what amounts to good value will be difficult, and persuading Congress to move...

President Obama's plan to make college more affordable is noble in intent but misses the mark in design.Today's college students are dramatically different from the archetype of the U.S. undergraduate, attending full time at residential schools. Most students now commute to campus, balancing jobs, school and often family. Higher education has done little to adjust to the changing needs of this new majority, with the result...

A new survey should prompt renewed focus on a fundamental higher-education truth: The skills that liberal-arts studies instill - critical thinking, logical reasoning, clear writing - are crucial for success. Those who have such "general skills" can better adapt to various jobs and life challenges - an edge over those who don't. That's a result of both those skills and the self-discipline needed to master them....

Urbana University will not increase costs next school year in an effort to keep current students and attract new ones, University President Stephen Jones said. "What brought this about is this continuing economic situation that this region, really this nation, (is) in, but particularly this region," Jones said. Tuition increased at private, nonprofit colleges by an average of 4.6 percent nationwide in 2011-12, according...