A College That Costs $61,236 A Year?

It is Sarah Lawrence College. That includes tuition, fees, room, and board. See Sticker Prices Go Up at Public 4-Year Colleges, but at a Slower Pace. I can email that article to anyone who can't get access. It is from the Chronicle of Higher Education (Sarah Lawrence is private). To see the ranking of the highest cost colleges go to Colleges With Highest Tuition.  Excerpts from the article:

"The annual increase in average published tuition and fees for in-state students at four-year public colleges, 4.8 percent, is smaller than it has been in more than a decade. At private nonprofit four-year colleges, the increase was 4.2 percent..."

"Last year tuition at public four-year colleges increased by 8.4 percent over the previous year."

"[President Obama proposed] ... to reward states for holding down tuition, among other goals, but also remove funds from colleges that don't offer a good value at an affordable price."

"For the 2012-13 academic year, according to the College Board, the average list price for in-state students' tuition and fees at public four-year institutions hit $8,655, up from $8,256 the year before. At private, nonprofit four-year colleges, the sticker price for tuition and fees rose to $29,056, compared with $27,883."

"Full-time, in-state undergraduates paid an average of $2,910 after grant aid and tax benefits at public four-year institutions in 2012-13. Students at private, nonprofit four-year institutions paid an average net price of $13,380. In 2011-12 the net price was $2,620 at four-year public colleges and $12,600 at four-year private nonprofit colleges."

"Neither sticker price nor net price captures the complex reality of individual variation, the report notes. Prices can be quite different from college to college."

"...in 2011-12, 49 percent of undergraduate grant aid came from the federal government, up from 37 percent a decade before."

"In the mid-1980s, the states awarded only 9 percent of their undergraduate grant aid without regard for need. But by 2011-12, they were distributing 29 percent that way. More states are focusing their aid programs on keeping top students rather than helping the neediest ones."

"About 60 percent of students who graduated in 2010-11 from the public or private nonprofit four-year institution where they started had taken out loans, the report says. Their average debt was $25,300. A larger proportion of graduates of private nonprofit colleges borrowed, and their average debt was about $6,000 higher."

"The more than $1-trillion in total outstanding education debt, including from graduate and professional school, can sound scary. But that sum is driven up by increases in enrollment."

"Of course, college affordability is affected not only by rising prices but also by family resources. Average family incomes were lower in 2011 than they were a decade ago, after adjusting for inflation, according to census data cited in the report."