College Affordability Diagnosis
State-by-State College Affordability Diagnosis
College Affordability Diagnosis is a state-by-state look at the cost of higher education. It is designed to help policymakers and institutional leaders compare what students and families must contribute to pay for college—from percentage of family income to hours worked while in school—across the range of institutions in any given state.
National Report
2016 College Affordability Diagnosis: National Report
College Affordability in Southern States
IRHE, in collaboration with the Higher Education Policy Institute, developed a comprehensive examination of college affordability in the Southern states. The report contains profiles of college affordability for the 16 Southern Regional Education Board member states, including regional trends and guides for data sources and analysis. This analysis is done through the lens of family income of state residents and how much it would cost students and families, on average, if they were to attend different types of institutions within the state.
Full Report
Affordability of Public Higher Education in SREB States
State Reports
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Community College Affordability
A Failing Safety Net examines the difficulty faced by states in providing affordable workforce and higher education training for their residents. As the percent of family income required to attend a public or private four-year institution has increased, it has also gone up for many community colleges across the nation – often seen as the safety net of postsecondary education. Most states have seen an increase in the percent of family income required to pay for community colleges thus making them less affordable for families than in 2008 – even in the face of economic recovery in many states. This trend collides with a dramatic increase in demand for postsecondary credentials from employers and the growing diversity of learners – first generation, minority, and adults – who need some education beyond high school in order to find a decent job and maintain a middle-class standard of living.
The data used to understand the affordability of community colleges were drawn from College Affordability Diagnosis (2016) released earlier this year.