College costs

A nice column by David Leonhardt today on the exaggeration of inflation in college tuition costs. As is often the case these days, a simple graphic tells much of the story. Basically, the sticker price ("full freight" tuition) has risen dramatically in the last couple decades, but to a considerable extent this has been offset by rising financial aid, especially among private schools. The last two decades have seen a substantial rise in the real net cost of public higher education, but more on the order of 50% than the 100+% that official government statistics suggest. It would be interesting to know how the financial aid has been allocated by economic class, something Leonhardt does not address.