Report: Tuition is soaring at two-year colleges

Rising tuition costs at two-year colleges are outpacing increases in household incomes across the country, making it difficult for students to get bachelor's degrees, according to a report released today.

The contrast is especially stark in Virginia, according to the report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. From 1999 to 2009, median household income, adjusted for inflation, rose 6 percent statewide while tuition at public two-year colleges increased 94.4 percent.

Over the same time, tuition at four-year state institutions rose more than 60 percent, the report says.

Nationwide, the affected students - more likely to be minorities, from low-income backgrounds and the first in their families to attend college - are 15 percent less likely to finish a bachelor's degree, the report found.

At Tidewater Community College, President Deborah M. DiCroce said she is committed, as part of the state's community college system, to holding tuition at no more than half the cost of the average four-year institution in the state.

"We're mindful of affordability," DiCroce said, citing an increasing number of students receiving financial aid.

In 2005-06, 28 percent of TCC students received aid, according to DiCroce. In 2009-10, 45 percent received aid. The majority of the aid is in the form of federal grants, she said.

TCC tuition costs per credit hour have risen 200 percent since fall 1999, according to statistics provided by the college. Still, students are taking heavier course loads - an average of 9.3 hours in fall 2010 from 8.6 in fall 1999, according to TCC.

A credit hour for fall 2011 costs $111.50 in tuition.

Today's national report also focuses on policies to help community college students transfer to and graduate from four-year schools. It found that, nationwide, many transfer policies are not helping matters. But Patrick M. Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, praised Virginia's statewide guaranteed-transfer agreements.

The agreements with four-year public and private universities allow students who earn associate's degrees and meet other requirements to gain admission to four-year schools.

Also at the state level, the Two-Year College Transfer Grant Program awards $1,000 to students who have earned associate's degrees from in-state, two-year institutions and are enrolling full-time at four-year, state institutions.

Callan called the grant program helpful but said the state "still has some way to go" to make education at two-year institutions affordable."

And while he said the guaranteed-admission agreements are "really good," he questioned whether four-year colleges will one day have the room to accommodate more students and whether those students will be able to afford the four-year schools.

Cheryl Ross, (757) 446-2443, cheryl.ross@pilotonline.com