The cost of college the year you graduated high school
For decades the cost of college has been rising, and a storm of factors, including inflation and plummeting enrollment numbers, are being cited as reasons behind new, steeper tuition hikes.
In the spring and summer of 2024, universities in Oregon, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Jersey, and Tennessee started announcing plans to raise tuition costs for incoming students. For the University of Oklahoma, it's the fourth consecutive year of increases, which officials have blamed on rising inflation.
It's a continuation of a trend that's led to heated discussions among lawmakers and the public about how and whether to relieve the burden tuition costs place on students. Though some universities froze tuition during the COVID-19 pandemic, prices have steadily crept back up in the years since. At Kansas' Emporia State University, for example, where costs are expected to go up by 4% for undergrads and 2% for graduate students, officials have suggested cutting back on student fees by as much as 17% to help cushion the blow.
The average cost of tuition and fees across all types of universities has ballooned by more than 179% from 2002 to 2022, according to the Education Data Initiative. Public and private college graduates entering the workforce in 2022 carried an average student debt balance of $29,400, despite student loan forgiveness programs enacted under the Biden administration.
As the cost of a college education continues to skyrocket, Stacker compiled tuition cost data from the National Center for Education Statistics to chronicle the average college tuition costs for high school graduates from 1970 to 2022. Costs for room and board are categorized as housing and meal costs. All statistics are averages across all universities, including private, public, non-profit, and for-profit schools.
Continue reading to see how the cost of college stacks up for your graduation year.
