By: Michelle Day and Marianne Hale

The cost of attending public four-year colleges like Western has increased more in the past decade than in the previous two decades, according to a College Board study released Oct. 20.

But student grant aid also went up, ultimately reducing the amount many students actually pay, said Jennifer Ma, a consultant for the College Board.

Education also pays, with people who have bachelor’s degrees earning 62 percent more in 2005 than people with only a high school diploma, according to another College Board study.

“The public sector depends heavily on state appropriations,” Ma said. “As they go down, public schools have to rely on tuition and fees. That’s why (prices) go up in the public sector.”

The studies, part of the College Board’s “Trends in Higher Education Series,” is based on a survey sent out to about 4,500 schools, she said.

From the 1999-2000 to the 2009-2010 academic years, tuition and fees at public four-year colleges increased at an average annual rate of 4.9 percent beyond the general inflation rate, according to the College Board’s “Trends in College Pricing” report.

Both previous decades had increases of 4 percent or lower, according to the report.

In-state tuition at four-year public institutions like Western increased an average 6.5 percent from a year ago, according to the report.

That increase is relatively low for an economic recession, when college prices can go up double digits, Ma said.

College has become more affordable in the past five years for many students, with the average price they actually pay after receiving financial aid totaling $1,600 a year at public four-year colleges, Ma said.

But family income has stayed about the same in the past decade, she said.

“The implications are for full-pay students,” she said.

Western’s tuition increase this year was 4 percent, the maximum allowed by the Council on Postsecondary Education.

CPE’s decision to cap tuition this year was good for keeping college affordable, said Ann Mead, Western’s vice president for Finance and Administration, in an e-mail.

But the cap was hard on the Academic Affairs department, which had to make difficult decisions about class enrollment and hiring to make up for less revenue, Mead said.

John Hayek, CPE vice president for finance, said the council allowed “aggressive” tuition increases in the early 2000s to get the price of higher education in Kentucky up to par with surrounding states.

The state has moved away from those aggressive increases in recent years as the economy started slowing down, Hayek said.

President Gary Ransdell said in March that the 4 percent increase was the lowest percent increase for tuition Western’s had since 1989.

Hayek said it’s important to keep other college costs in mind when comparing how affordable higher education is in different states.

“Tuition is just one part of the puzzle,” he said, adding that other costs, such as room and board and textbooks, also factor in.

CPE will begin the tuition-setting process in November for the 2010-2011 academic year, Mead said.

Schools will know by March the maximum tuition increases CPE will allow for next year, and Western officials should set the tuition rate by May, she said.