State Colleges’ Tuition Costs

Paying for higher education can be daunting. College tuition is increasing on average much faster than normal inflation, creating a hurdle for those who are considering even in-state tuition.

In Kentucky, not all colleges are created equally—and neither are their price tags. Here’s a comparison of the prices of some of the state’s top public universities for the 2010-2011 academic year*:

• University of Kentucky: $4,305

• University of Louisville: $4,212

• Western Kentucky University: $3,780

• Northern Kentucky University: $3,564

• Eastern Kentucky University: $3,312

• Morehead State University: $3,246

• Murray State University: $3,132

(*All information is for a full-time undergraduate student, in-state tuition, for one semester. This includes tuition only, with no room and board.)

FinAid (www.finaid.com), a Web site that provides students and parents with information on financial aid, estimates that tuition will continue to increase at a rate nearly twice of inflation. FinAid states that, “During any 17-year period from 1958 to 2001, the average annual tuition inflation rate was between 6% and 9%.”

This means, according to FinAid, that college costs for a baby born today will be more than three times the current rates when the child enrolls in college. KL