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.
This reversal follows a decade of decline that saw Pell expenditures drop from a 2010-11 peak of $51.3 billion to $29.2 billion in 2022-23.
The increases stem from several factors: enrollment growth in fall 2023 and fall 2024, a $500 increase in the maximum Pell Grant from $6,895 in 2022-23 to $7,395 in 2023-24, and the FAFSA Simplification Act's expansion of eligibility starting in 2024-25.
Grant aid continues to reduce what students actually pay. First-time full-time in-district students at public two-year colleges have received enough grant aid on average to cover tuition and fees since 2009-10. Average net tuition and fees paid by first-time full-time in-state students at public four-year institutions peaked at $4,450 in 2012-13 and declined to an estimated $2,300 in 2025-26, both in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Total postsecondary enrollment rebounded in fall 2023 after three years of Covid-19-related declines, growing 2% to 18.9 million students. However, the public two-year sector continued to struggle, with total enrollment declining 8.6% between fall 2019 and fall 2023.
The report documents shifts in enrollment demographics. Between fall 2015 and fall 2023, the share of Black, Hispanic and Native students increased across all public and private nonprofit four-year selectivity levels, driven primarily by growth in Hispanic student enrollment consistent with increases in Hispanic high school graduates.
Student borrowing showed mixed trends. After 13 consecutive years of decline, total annual education borrowing increased 1.2% to $102.6 billion in 2024-25, though this remains far below the 2010-11 peak of $163.9 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Among 2023-24 bachelor's degree recipients from public and private nonprofit four-year institutions, 47% graduated with debt, down from 56% in 2018-19. Average debt among borrowers was $29,560, compared to $35,310 (in 2024 dollars) for 2018-19 graduates.
The report arrives as higher education faces significant policy changes. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, eliminates the graduate PLUS loan program starting July 1, 2026, imposes new borrowing limits, and creates a new income-driven repayment plan replacing existing options.
The legislation also establishes a Workforce Pell Grants program for short-term training programs and implements tiered endowment taxes on wealthy private institutions, with rates between 1.4% and 8% for schools with at least $500,000 in endowment per student and 3,000 tuition-paying students.
Total student aid from all sources reached $275.1 billion in 2024-25, with institutional grants now comprising 49% of all grant aid, up from 43% a decade earlier.
