The article says that the net price (price after discounts) has gone down over time. This surprised me.
They cite a College Board report, but don't specify which one. I suspect it's this one:
https://research.collegeboard.org/trends/college-pricing
Tables CP-9 and CP-10 do indeed show net price going down for the last few years. But the figures aren't expressed in dollars, but in '2022 dollars', i.e. the charts don't show the actual net price, but the net price adjusted by CPI inflation.
This is an important distinction because, when people pay for college, they're not comparing it with the cost of other goods and services (which is what CPI measures), but whether they can afford it, based on their parents' current/past income, or their own future expected income.
If you agree with this perspective, using CPI to make the curves look flatter does everyone a disservice. Wages for many people haven't kept up with CPI, so a higher nominal net cost still makes college less affordable.
They cite a College Board report, but don't specify which one. I suspect it's this one: https://research.collegeboard.org/trends/college-pricing
Tables CP-9 and CP-10 do indeed show net price going down for the last few years. But the figures aren't expressed in dollars, but in '2022 dollars', i.e. the charts don't show the actual net price, but the net price adjusted by CPI inflation.
This is an important distinction because, when people pay for college, they're not comparing it with the cost of other goods and services (which is what CPI measures), but whether they can afford it, based on their parents' current/past income, or their own future expected income.
If you agree with this perspective, using CPI to make the curves look flatter does everyone a disservice. Wages for many people haven't kept up with CPI, so a higher nominal net cost still makes college less affordable.