Monday, March 05, 2007

Tuition Discounting at AASCU Institutions

As states continue the trend of providing postsecondary institutions with smaller shares of state funds, public colleges and universities are forced to rely more heavily on tuition and fees as a source of revenue. While this trend is well documented, little is know about how colleges use institutional aid to provide tuition “discounts” to certain student populations. In 2006, The College Board published Tuition Discounting: Not Just a Private College Practice that examined the extent to which public colleges are using tuition revenue and institutional aid to offset the cost of attendance for some students. Tuition discounting has important policy implications for public colleges and universities primarily because most of the discounts are awarded to students who do not have critical financial need. Colleges often utilize tuition discounts to attract talented students who will help their institutions improve college rankings, athletic programs, and demographic profiles. This policy brief helps answer some basic questions about the extent to which AASCU institutions engage in tuition discounting and how institutional discounting policy can leverage resources for students with the greatest financial need.

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