Tuition

It's been a politically popular move for lawmakers to bail out prepaid college tuition plans that are now going broke, but doing so raises some potentially troubling questions of equity. Indeed, these bailouts could have the net impact of forgiving investment losses for middle- and upper-income families at the expense of low-income people, higher education researchers say.

Cam Holmes graduated from Tulsa Community College on Friday – and she says that, but for a program created three years ago, she never would have done so.

Private, nonprofit colleges will hike tuition and fees by an average of 4.5 percent in the coming academic year, outpacing inflation while still holding close to last year’s nearly 40-year low increase rate, according to a survey released Tuesday by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

For Hendrix College, the past decade ushered in a series of unfortunate events.

The strategy may not be new, but few expected it to come out of Cobleskill, N.Y.

Many states see double-digit tuition increases this year, as public universities try to cope with the recession.

More two-year institutions consider charging more for in-demand workforce programs as state funds are cut.

Survey of state community college directors shows few have plans for how to balance budgets once federal stimulus dollars are gone.

New system would let universities charge almost three times current levels.

In what might best be described as a game of chicken over tuition policy, a handful of public colleges in South Carolina have yet to back down.

Flexing notable muscle in late September, the State Budget and Control Board declared that it would not approve any construction projects on campuses that hiked tuition by 7 percent or more this year, barring those that would agree to roll it back for spring 2011. A slightly lower threshold of 6.3 percent was set for community colleges and technical colleges.