What Is the Price of College? Total, Net, and Out-of-Pocket Prices

What Is the Price of College? Total, Net, and Out-of-Pocket Prices in 2015–16 focuses on four price measures, including total price of attendance (tuition and living expenses), net price of attendance after all grants, out-of-pocket net price after all financial aid, and out-of-pocket net price after all aid excluding student loans. Estimates were compared across four institution types: public 2-year institutions, public 4-year institutions, for-profit institutions at all levels (less-than-2-year, 2-year, and 4-year), and private nonprofit 4-year institutions. Estimates are also presented separately for dependent and independent students, with these estimates being further separated by income level and institution control and level.

Key findings include the following:

• Full-time students at public 2-year institutions had the lowest average price of attendance at $16,100 in 2015–16. The average price of attendance was higher at public 4-year institutions ($26,900), higher still at for-profit institutions ($32,600), and highest at private nonprofit 4-year institutions ($48,000). Students attending public 2-year institutions also had the lowest average net price after grants at $12,100, the lowest average out-of-pocket net price minus all aid at $10,400, and the lowest average net price minus all aid except loans at $11,500.
• Most students in 2015–16 received at least one type of financial aid, a key component of the price of college, but the packages students received varied systematically by institution control and level. The most common type of financial aid at public 2-year institutions was grants only (51 percent), while the most common type of aid at public 4-year institutions, private for-profit, and private nonprofit 4-year schools was a combination of grants and loans (32 percent, 55 percent, and 32 percent, respectively). The percentage of students with loans was greatest at private for-profit schools (74 percent) and lowest at public 2-year institutions (20 percent)
• While low family income dependent students in 201–16 tended to have lower prices to attend college than their higher family income peers, there was no consistent pattern among independent students. In all institution categories, low family income dependent students had a lower average net price after grants ($9,300–$24,400) compared with high-middle family income ($71,635 to $124,701) dependent students ($12,900–$31,300) and high family income ($13,200–$39,400) dependent students. In addition, compared with their higher family income peers, low family income dependent students had the lowest average out-of-pocket net price minus all aid at public 2-year ($8,400), public 4-year ($9,500), and private nonprofit 4-year institutions ($10,900). In contrast, compared with higher student income independent students, low student income independent students had the highest average net price after grants at private nonprofit 4-year institutions ($33,500) and the lowest at public 2-year institutions ($13,300).
This report uses data from the 2015–16 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:16).