The rise in college costs over recent years is not being distributed equally and students from the poorest families are bearing more of the burden than those from wealthier families, according to a new analysis of federal education cost data from the Hechinger Report.
The group measured the distribution of cost increases by looking at the net price of a year of school after financial aid is factored in. Colleges and universities report the total cost of a year of tuition, room and board, books, fees, and other expenses, and subtract scholarships and grants. Hechinger looked at how net price figures changed from the 2008-09 school year to the 2011-12 year,and found rising costs across the board. Public school net prices rose by $1,100 on average, compared to a $1,500 average jump at private colleges and universities.
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State education funding cuts due to the recession have compounded the cost shift for poor families whose kids hope to attend public state schools, with the net price of a year at Arizona State University rising nearly twice as fast for poor kids as for rich ones. In some specific cases, the richest families even saw their costs fall. At Alabama State, the net price rose by $3,800 for families with less than $30,000 in income, but fell by $700 for families who earned more than $75,000 per year.

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In 1995, just a quarter of private college students received merit-based aid. By 2010, that figure had jumped to 44 percent. The numbers are smaller at public schools, but the trend is the same.
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till, those wealthier families are better able to pick up the leftover tab after financial aid is factored in. Shifting costs onto the poor means exacerbating the country’s massive student debt problem. With more than a trillion dollars in outstanding student loans, under-enrollment in programs meant to ease loan repayment, and historically high default rates, higher education is proving to be more of an economic drag than a boon for millions of young people. Those debts keep young people from buying things, and that lost spending hurts economic growth. The money college debtors spent on loan payments last year alone could have bought 155,000 new houses or 67 million new iPhones.