 Dear reader,
Acceptances, rejections and wait list offers are all coming in, and this is the time when prospective college students and their parents drill down on how much a college education will really cost. Often, financial aid packages are disheartening, but as our recent blockbuster reporting and data analysis show, prices are rising more for lower-income students than they are for their higher-income peers.
We analyzed federal data and found that nearly 700 universities and colleges over the last decade raised the prices paid by their lowest-income students more than the prices paid by their highest-income ones. We also updated our handy Tuition Tracker tool, which lets you compare colleges at a glance and includes information on everything from enrollment and costs to graduation rates.
It’s easy to understand why conversations about costs dominate higher-education discussions. On the K-12 level, we’ve noted a new phrase that’s gaining traction, even though it doesn’t address the most pressing problems facing higher education — “parental rights.”
My column on that topic asks an important question, and we would really love to hear reactions from our readers: Do we want more federal government involvement and intervention in education, including mandates about what topics teachers can teach, and what books (and even art) children can see? Let us know, and please remind others who want to stay informed about education to sign up for our newsletters and become a Hechinger Report member.
Liz Willen, Editor
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Main Idea