The cost of college has skyrocketed beyond what the average American can afford, driven by increases in institutional spending. There have been several initiatives at the state level to try to combat the student debt crisis by increasing transparency. These bills tend to require institutions to give students and families the information they need to estimate more accurately the cost of college without spending hours filling out complex financial disclosures or costly applications. Texas’s Senate Bill 473 is a particularly unique proposal, requiring public colleges which offer fixed or flat tuition rates to explain “the effect of the program on the calculation of a student’s cost per credit hour, including the institution’s current fixed [or flat] tuition rate, and clearly describing the amount of tuition a student would pay for varying course loads.” These reporting requirements provide much needed clarity on college pricing. When institutions hide their net cost, students must jump through countless hoops simply to determine what college will cost each year. ACTA salutes Texas for attempting to restore sanity to this process.
With college costs rising and some students and families questioning the return on investment of a four-year degree, a few pioneering state universities are exploring programs that would grant certain bachelor’s degrees in three years.
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