Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images
The price of getting a degree has continued to climb at American universities, with the cost of some schools reaching a new threshold. It's leaving many wondering if it's a good investment.
Schools like New York University, Tufts, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale are pegging the total cost of university attendance — which covers tuition, housing, food, supplies, books, and more — for the 2024-25 school year at over $90,000, according to their websites.
NYU, already known for its high fees, estimates the total cost for the next school year will be $93,184, with tuition ($62,796) and food and housing ($24,652) listed as the most expensive line items. The total is up 3.3% from the $90,222 estimated for this school year.
And while that's much higher than the typical sticker price of private four-year institutions — the average was $41,540 this school year, per the College Board — the figures reflect both the growing costs of living in American cities and the ever-increasing costs of education.
Tuition and fees at private national universities have increased by about 40% over the past 20 years, adjusted for inflation, according to U.S. News & World Report. When not adjusted for inflation, that's a massive jump of about 132%. Out-of-state and in-state tuition and fees at public universities have risen by about 38% and 56%, adjusted for inflation, over the same period.
A 2023 Institute for Higher Education Policy analysis of Department of Education data found that these soaring prices were leaving students across racial and ethnic groups with "unmet need," defined as the difference between what families can afford and the cost of college. It's especially affecting Black and Latinx students.
Universities are quick to note that very few (and usually only the wealthiest) students actually pay the sticker price, and more top schools now guarantee they'll meet the financial needs of all accepted students. To their credit, the net cost of private four-year colleges has actually fallen over the past decade, when adjusted for inflation, per the College Board.
Still, the Institute for Higher Education Policy found that for families in the lowest income bracket, the net cost of college — which takes into account grants and scholarships — amounted to 148% of their annual household income.
The result? A generation wondering if college is worth it.
In a Business Insider and YouGov survey conducted last year, 46% of Gen Z respondents said they didn't think college was worth the cost. Gen X and baby-boomer respondents — the parents who, in many cases, are footing the bill — were even more disparaging, with 54% and 57% saying college wasn't worth it.
That sentiment could speed up the decadelong decline in college enrollment.
"When I'm talking to younger people of Gen Z, it seems like they're very aware" of the price, which "might be a little bit of a shift" from prior generations, Ana Hernández Kent, a senior researcher with the Institute for Economic Equity at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, told Business Insider last year. "Instead of just a blanket approach and assuming that they need to go to college and that it's going to pay off, they're much more critical."
