Sticker v. Net Price in 2024-25: The College Board Breaks Down What Students Actually Pay to Attend College
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
A new report from The College Board found that the average published sticker prices for tuition and fees continue to rise across all higher education institutions for full-time undergraduate students, but the “net price” – what a student actually pays to attend post-secondary education after grant aid is subtracted – has been declining or stable in recent years.
The Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid report, released annually by the College Board, looks at the “sticker” and “net prices” of attending college, the amount of available student aid, student debt levels, and more to provide students with a comprehensive picture of costs and benefits associated with attending college.
According to the latest iteration of the report, in the 2024-25 academic year, the average published “sticker” tuition and fees for full-time undergraduate students at a:
-
public four-year in-state institutions was $11,610, which is $300 higher than in 2023-24 or 2.7% before adjusting for inflation;
-
public four-year out-of-state institutions was $30,780, $940 higher than in 2023-24 or 3.2% before adjusting for inflation;
-
public two-year in-district institutions was $4,050, $100 higher than in 2023-24 or 2.5% before adjusting for inflation; and
-
private nonprofit four-year institutions was $43,350, $1,610 higher than in 2023-24 or 3.9% before adjusting for inflation.
Looking at “net price” of cost of attendance, the College Board found that in the 2024-25 academic year, first-time full-time in-district students at public two-year colleges had a “net cost of attendance” of $15,810 for the academic year – which is about $140 more than 2023-24’s “net” cost of attendance.
For first-time full-time in-state students enrolled in public four-year institutions, the average “net” cost of attendance for the year was $20,780, or about $130 more than 2023-24. For first-time full-time students enrolled in private nonprofit four-year institutions, the average “net” cost of attendance for the year was $36,150, which is about $500 more than 2023-24.
“Changes in sticker prices tend to garner the most media attention,” the report stated. “However, it is important to note that most undergraduate students do not pay the full sticker price. Grant aid does not need to be repaid and helps lower the actual prices that students and families pay.”
The College Board noted that the average net tuition and fees paid by first-time full-time students at public four-year and private nonprofit four-year institutions have been “declining or stable in recent years.” For 2024-25, those numbers were $2,480 and $16,510, respectively.
The report also noted that in 2024-25, the average tuition and fees at public two-year and public four-year institutions increased less than the general inflation rate of 3.1%, which is continuing a trend that started during the Covid-19 pandemic
Making sure students and families understand what they’re paying to attend college is a critical mission of the College Cost Transparency Initiative (CCT). So far, 623 institutions have partnered with the initiative and committed to its principles and standards.
"The College Board's report highlights the necessity for institutions to include net price on their aid offers, a required standard for CCT partner schools.” said Megan Walter, senior policy analyst at NASFAA, which manages the CCT initiative. “This metric enables students and families to accurately calculate how much each institution will cost after grants and scholarships are applied. Focusing only on the sticker price can be misleading, as it doesn’t account for these adjustments—making the net price essential for informed decision-making."
The report also touches on trends regarding student aid for the 2023-24 academic year. In 2023-24, undergraduate and graduate students received a total of $256.7 billion in student aid in the form of grants, Federal Work-Study, federal loans, and federal education tax benefits.
The average grant aid for undergraduate full-time equivalent (FTE) students was $11,610 in 2023 dollars, which is an almost $400 increase compared to the 2018-19 academic year. The average federal loan for these undergraduate students in 2023-24 was $3,900, which is an over $1,000 decrease from 2018-19. And the average aid received through “other aid” – such as education tax benefits or Federal Work-Study – for 2023-24 undergraduate students was $850, a decrease of over $400 compared to 2018-19.
The report found that 2023-24 graduate students received an average of $10,750 in grant aid, which is almost a $1,000 decrease from the 2018-19 academic year. These students also received an average of $17,240 in federal loans, roughly a $4,000 decrease from 2018-19. Additionally, 2023-24 graduate students received an average of $430 in other aid, which is about a $300 decrease from 2018-19.
Looking at the composition of total aid and non-federal loans for the 2023-24 year, the College Board noted that both federal and nonfederal loans fell from 38% of the funds undergraduate students used to supplement their own and their family resources in 2013-14, to 28% in 2023-24. Grants made up 67% of the composition for 2023-24 undergraduate students, compared to 53% in 2013-14. For graduate students, the composition was 61% loans, 37% grants, and 1% other aid for 2023-24.
The report from the College Board also included data from the National College Attainment Network’s FAFSA Tracker. After a tumultuous launch of the 2024-25 FAFSA, an estimated 43% of high school seniors in the 2024 cohort had completed a FAFSA form, which is down from 51% in 2023-24. As of June 21, 49% of 2024 high school seniors from higher-income schools had completed the FAFSA, compared to 44% of seniors from low-income schools.
Stay tuned to Today’s News for additional coverage of college pricing trends.
Publication Date: 11/6/2024
You must be logged in to comment on this page.