What High Schoolers and Their Parents Know About Public 4-Year Tuition and Fees in Their State

By Yesenia Ayala

Earlier this month, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) published a report that explored student and parent perceptions of college costs using data from the School Longitudinal Study of 2009. The report compared perceived costs to actual costs using in-state tuition and fees from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

Among the findings:

• In 2009, 14% of ninth grade students and 13% of their parents felt “very confident” when estimating the average cost of tuition and fees for one year at a four- year public university.
  • 18% of parents from higher income backgrounds felt “very confident” about their estimates, 12% from middle class backgrounds felt “very confident”, and 8% from lower income backgrounds felt “very confident.”
• Accuracy of students estimates varied widely. 57% of ninth grade high school students overestimated college tuition and fees at a public four-year institution in their state; 32% underestimated and 11% responded with an estimate that was considered close to the actual cost.
  • Estimates ranged from $90,000 higher than the average tuition and fees to $10,000 lower than the average tuition and fees.
  • Among those who underestimated, 46% were Black students, 37% Hispanic students, and 27% were White students.

• There was variation in the estimation of tuition and fees among socioeconomic groups.
  • 45% of students in the lowest fifth of the income quartile underestimated tuition and fees;
  • 32% of middle-class students underestimated costs and;
  • 21% of higher income students underestimated costs.