United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2007-11-28 monographic deposited born digital 32 p. GA 1.13:GAO-08-245 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-245 P0b002ee180397db1 f:d08245 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-245 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-245 GAO-08-245 Colleges and universities Cost control Education or training costs Fees Financial management Graduate education Higher education Minorities Minority education Other Written Product A78438 Higher education has increasingly become critical to our nation's cultural, social, and economic well-being, with 90 percent of the fastest-growing jobs in the knowledge economy requiring some postsecondary education. While a college graduate can expect to earn, on average, approximately $1 million more over the course of his or her working life than those with a high school diploma, most students and their families can expect to pay more on average for college than they did just a year ago. Moreover, many are concerned that the increases in the cost of college may be discouraging large numbers of individuals, particularly minority and low-income individuals, from pursuing higher education. The topic of college affordability continues to be an issue of great concern. Various policymakers, national associations, and philanthropic foundations have documented the growth in college tuition and its potentially adverse effects on access to higher education and rates of degree completion. Recent years have witnessed the introduction of many federal-, state-, and institution-level initiatives aimed at curbing tuition increases, yet tuition continues to rise. Congress asked GAO to provide information on trends in higher education enrollments, tuition and fees, and institutional expenditures on education- related services that students receive by addressing the following questions: (1) What have been the patterns in college enrollment over the past decade and do these patterns differ by race? (2) What have been the patterns in the types of schools students attend and do these patterns differ by race? (3) How much have tuition and fees increased over the past decade across different types of higher education institutions? (4) To what extent have increases in tuition and fees been associated with increases in spending by institutions on education? https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-245/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-245.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-245/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-245.pdf GAO-08-245 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-245 Other Written Product GAO-08-245; Higher Education: Tuition Continues to Rise, but Patterns Vary by Institution Type, Enrollment, and Educational Expenditures; Colleges and universities Cost control Education or training costs Fees Financial management Graduate education Higher education Minorities Minority education Public Law 102-325