Feds make available New Data on College Tuition, Enrollment, and Graduation

This week, the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released preliminary data providing some insight into who is going to college, how much they’re paying, which ones are graduating and at what levels.

In sum, postsecondary enrollment and graduation rates continue to grow, with women significantly outnumbering men across the board.  And not surprisingly, college is getting more expensive.

Although final numbers won’t be available for a few more months, here are some of the more interesting statistics culled from surveys conducted of all postsecondary institutions receiving Title IV federal student financial aid:

• Of 7,398 colleges and universities surveyed, 41.3 percent or 3,053 were classified as four-year institutions—700 public and 1,611 private nonprofit.
• By far, the greatest number of postsecondary institutions may be found in the southeastern region of the United States—1,779 public, private and for-profit 2- and 4-year colleges and universities.
• Between 2009-10 and 2011-12, average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges (after adjusting for inflation) increased 9 percent for in-state students to about $7,200; out-of-state tuition and fees increased 5.6 percent to about $16,500.
• Tuition and fees at private non-profit institutions went up on average 4.3 percent to about $23,350.
•  Room and board on public campuses increased 3.8 percent to $8,342, while the same expenses at private schools went up 3.0 percent to $8,685.
•  For 2010-11, four-year public institutions enrolled 7.8 million undergraduates; private colleges and universities enrolled 3.1 million undergrads.
• Women significantly outnumber men at both the undergraduate (57 to 43 percent) and graduate levels (60 to 40 percent).
• Of the roughly 2.9 million degrees four-year institutions reported conferring in 2010-11, about 1.2 million (41.9 percent) went to men and 1.7 million (58.1 percent) went to women; at two-year institutions, 252,569 (38.7 percent) of the diplomas went to men and 400,346 (61.3 percent) went to women.
• And out of 3.6 million degrees awarded, 59.2 percent were bachelor’s degrees, 25.2 percent were master’s degrees, 10 percent were associate’s degrees, and 5.6 percent were at the doctorate level.