The 2017 NACUBO Tuition Discounting Study

By Jael Greene

The National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) recently released their annual study on tuition discounting, which is the percentage of tuition and fee revenue that private, nonprofit colleges collect and put towards institutional financial aid, such as grants and scholarships. The study illustrated that the average institutional tuition discount rate has reached the highest levels reached in the history of the study for both cohorts (first-time, full-time freshmen and all undergraduate students).

Findings include:

• In 2017-18, the average institutional tuition discount rate increased for first-time, full-time freshmen and for all undergraduate students (see graph below).
  • For first-time, full-time freshmen, the average institutional tuition discount rate was 49.9%, compared to 48.2% in 2016-17.
  • For all undergraduates, the average institutional tuition discount rate was 44.8%, compared with 43.2% in 2016-17.
• Since 2008-09, the average sticker price for tuition and fees has increased 42.1%, but the average net price for freshmen students has only risen 18.8% due to a much faster rise in institutional financial aid.
• In 2017-18, 88.7% of freshmen and 79.5% of all undergraduates received institutional grant aid with the average grant covering 56.7% of tuition and fees.