Revising the Higher Ed Price Index

The Commonfund Institute on Monday announced that it is currently projecting a 2.8 percent increase in the Higher Education Price Index -- an inflation rate for colleges and universities -- for fiscal 2009. The figure will continue to be refined. Commonfund also announced that it is revising the way it calculates the rate so that all data are aligned with a July-June academic fiscal year. Until now, different calendars have sometimes been used for some of the spending that goes into the rate, resulting in the rate at times appearing too high or too low.