Earning a college degree is an investment with far-reaching benefits. According to February 2025 data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, adults with bachelor’s degrees earn a median of $20,000 more per year than those with a high school diploma. This increased income can mean a big difference in quality of life, from being able to afford a home to lower instances of poverty and even longer life expectancy.
Those statistics may help explain why enrollment went up 3.2% in spring 2025, with undergraduate enrollment going up 3.5%, according to the latest National Student Clearinghouse Research Center data. At the same time, there are serious financial realities to consider: education often comes with a hefty price tag. Over the last 10 years, tuition rates for both public and private colleges have increased by more than 20%, and student loan debt has increased alongside it, exceeding $1.8 trillion nationwide as of the second quarter of 2025, the highest on record.
According to the Education Data Initiative, the disparity in cost between private and public college tuition has grown yearly over the past decade, reaching the point where a single year at a private college costs nearly as much as a four-year degree at a public school. As of 2025, the average annual tuition at a four-year private nonprofit college is $38,421, whereas the price of an in-state public college is $9,750. As a result, many students are choosing to attend a public university, where they can potentially pay less tuition and get a better value for their money. In fact, research from the Education Data Initiative found that more than 73% of all American undergraduate students are enrolled in public institutions as of March 2025.
Read more at AOL.
