The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has released "Postsecondary Institutions and Price of Attendance in the United States: Fall 2008, Degrees and Other Awards Conferred: 2007-08, and 12-Month Enrollment: 2007-08." The report uses the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) fall 2008 data to examine institution characteristics including tuition, fees, enrollment, and number of degrees conferred during the period July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008 by Title IV postsecondary institutions.

The report found that:

• During 2008-09, full-time, in-state undergraduates at public 4-year institutions paid an average of $6,070 for tuition and fees, and out-of-state undergraduates averaged more than twice that amount ($14,378).

• During the 2007-08 academic year, Title IV institutions in the United States reported enrolling 25.9 million individual graduate and undergraduate students.

• About 3.9 million postsecondary awards (degrees or certificates) were conferred by Title IV institutions during the 2007-08 academic year.

Institutional Characteristics, Price of Attendance, and Tuition and Fees

• In 2008-09, there were 6,787 Title IV postsecondary institutions in the United States and other jurisdictions. Among these, 2,798 were classified as 4-year institutions, 2,227 were 2- year institutions, and the remaining 1,762 were less-than-2-year institutions.

• Among all Title IV institutions in the United States, 41 percent reported offering a bachelor's degree or higher as their highest offering, 14 percent reported offering an award of at least 2 but less than 4 years as their highest offering, 19 percent reported offering an associate's degree as their highest offering, and 26 percent reported offering an award of less than 2 years as their highest offering.

• During 2008-09, public 4-year institutions reported average tuition and required fees charges for full-time in-state undergraduates of $6,070 and out-of-state undergraduates of $14,378. Private not-for-profit 4-year institutions reported charging $20,112, on average, for tuition and required fees during 2008-09, and private for-profit 4-year institutions reported charging an average of $15,521.

• Public 4-year institutions reported a 5 percent increase (after adjusting for inflation) in instate tuition and required fees and a 3 percent increase in out-of-state tuition and required fees charged to full-time undergraduates between 2006-07 and 2008-09. Over the same 2-year period, 4-year private not-for-profit institutions reported a 5 percent increase and private for-profit 4-year institutions reported a 3 percent increase in tuition and required fees charged to full-time undergraduates.

• Private for-profit 4-year institutions reported the highest overall average price of attendance during 2008-09 for full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates living on campus ($35,021), slightly higher than the average for private not-for-profit 4-year institutions ($32,670) (table 5). Public 4-year institutions reported an average price of $17,655 for in-state full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates living on campus and $26,219 for out-of-state full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates living on campus.

Completions

• For the 2007-08 academic year, 4-year Title IV institutions reported awarding 2.5 million degrees and 2-year institutions reported awarding almost 572,000 degrees. Of the degrees awarded by 4-year institutions, 42 percent were awarded to men and 58 percent to women. Of the degrees awarded by 2-year institutions, 37 percent were awarded to men and 63 percent to women.

• During the 2007-08 academic year, Title IV institutions reported conferring about 3.9 million postsecondary awards (degrees or certificates). Considering all postsecondary awards, about 2.4 million were awarded to White students; 437,349 were awarded to Black or African American students; 355,071 were awarded to Hispanic students; 220,667 were awarded to Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islanders; 31,459 were awarded to American Indian or Alaska Natives; 160,827 were awarded to nonresident aliens, and 1,507 were awarded to students of two or more races. The remainder of the awards were earned by individuals whose race was reported to be unknown.

12-Month Enrollment

• During the 2007-08 academic year, Title IV institutions in the United States reported a 12- month unduplicated headcount enrollment totaling 25.9 million individual students. Of these, 22.3 million were undergraduates, 3.3 million were graduate students, and nearly 280,000 were first-professional students.

• During the 2007-08 academic year, Title IV institutions in the United States reported fulltime- equivalent enrollment of 15.5 million graduate and undergraduate students.

To view the full report please visit: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009165

Posted 10/14/09 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.