As part of my ongoing review of some of the literature and topics around the affordability of a college education, I happened to find a publication from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education entitled The Iron Triangle: College Presidents Talk about Costs, Access, and Quality.  Prepared by John Immerwahr, Jean Johnson, and Paul Gasbarra, the report is about a unique piece of research in which 30 college and university presidents were interviewed for their perspectives on the three major issues of cost, access, and quality of higher education (and, the corners forming the Iron Triangle).

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The College Board has published an annual report on college pricing since 1998.  The report looks at tuition and fees, room and board, and other related costs at colleges in the United States.  It also reviews the net price of college after subtracting financial aid grants to students.  Colleges are categorized as public four-year, public two-year, and private non-profit four year.  Data is also collected for public out of state student pricing and for-profit pricing.  (see http://www.collegeboard.com/html/costs/pricing/) 

The College Board states that all costs of college attendance are important and that often, costs such as room and board and books influence the ability of a student to afford college more so than tuition and fees.  The College Board encourages readers to cite or reproduce the data as long as they are given proper attribution, so I’ll list a few facts that I found interesting in this year’s report.

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