For the first time since 2020, average tuition and fees at public colleges and universities increased faster than the general inflation rate, according to the College Board's annual "Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid" report.
The average 2025-26 tuition and fees at public two-year and public four-year institutions rose just above the 2.6% inflation rate, ending a four-year streak of below-inflation increases between 2021-22 and 2024-25.
Average published tuition and fees for 2025-26 stand at $4,150 for public two-year in-district students (up $110 or 2.7%), $11,950 for public four-year in-state students (up $340 or 2.9%), and $45,000 for private nonprofit four-year students (up $1,750 or 4.0%), all before adjusting for inflation.
Despite the uptick, decade-long trends show a different story. After adjusting for inflation, average tuition and fees declined by 10% at public two-year colleges and 7% at public four-year institutions over the past decade, while increasing just 2% at private nonprofit four-year colleges.
"The increases in the amounts of funding from state appropriations and federal Covid-19 relief, coupled with low tuition increases since the start of the pandemic, have shifted the composition of revenue sources at public institutions in recent years," the report states.
State and local funding per student at public institutions reached $11,680 in 2023-24, remaining stable after adjusting for inflation and marking a more than 40% increase since hitting bottom in 2011-12 following the Great Recession.
The report documents a significant rebound in federal Pell Grants after years of decline. Between 2022-23 and 2024-25, the number of Pell Grant recipients increased by 22% from 6.0 million to 7.3 million students, while total expenditures rose 32% to $38.6 billion, after adjusting for inflation.
