Out-of-Pocket Net Price for College

What is the out-of-pocket net price students must pay for college and how has it changed over time?

FIGURE 1. TRENDS IN OUT-OF-POCKET NET PRICE AND TOTAL PRICE Average out-of-pocket net price and total price among full-time, full-year undergraduates in constant (2012) dollars, by source of funds and type of institution: Selected years, 2000–12

NOTE: “Grants” include grants, scholarships, and tuition waivers. “Loans” include only loans to students. “Other aid” includes federal Parent PLUS loans, institutional graduate teaching and research assistantships, state vocational rehabilitation and job training grants, federal veterans benefits, and military tuition aid. “Full time” is defined as having been enrolled in one postsecondary institution for 9 months or more full time. “For-profit” includes all less-than-2-year, 2-year, and 4-year for-profit institutions. Inflation adjustment is based on an academic year (July–June) average. Estimates include students enrolled in TitleIV eligible institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (excluding Puerto Rico). Estimates may not sum to totals due to rounding. All values in this figure (along with standard errors) can be found in table 1, available at https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2014902.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000,2003–04, 2007–08, and 2011–12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Studies (NPSAS:2000, NPSAS:04, NPSAS:08, and NPSAS:12).

Out-of-pocket net price is the immediate amount students and families must pay to attend college after subtracting grants, loans, work-study, and all other student aid from students’ total price of attendance.¹

Despite an increase in grant and loan aid between 1999–2000 and 2011–12, out-of-pocket expenses also increased during this period for full-time, full-year students in all but for-profit institutions.²
Students in private nonprofit 4-year colleges paid the highest out-of-pocket net price in all years except 2007–08, when out-ofpocket net price was highest for students in for-profit institutions.
Between the two most recent study periods (2007–08 and 2011–12), only students in public 4-year collegesfaced higher outof-pocket expenses: $10,800 vs. $11,800. Apparent differences for public 2-year and private nonprofit 4-year institutions were not statistically significant.

How did out-of-pocket net price vary with income in 2011–12?

Dependent students are those under age 24 and financially dependent on their parents. Among full-time, full-year dependent students, out-ofpocket expenses were higher at each successive income quartile, from the lowest ($8,500) to the highest ($19,700).
The out-of-pocket expenses for the lowest income independent students (primarily age 24 or older) were not significantly lower than those of their lowermiddle income peers ($10,900 and $11,000), but they were lower than those of students in the upper-middle and highest income quartiles. Out-of-pocket expenses were higher at each successive income quartile in the three quartiles from lowermiddle to highest.

FIGURE 2. OUT-OF-POCKET NET PRICE AND TOTAL PRICE, BY SOURCE OF FUNDS AND INCOME LEVELS IN 2012 Out-of-pocket net price and total price, by source of funds and income levels for full-time, full-year dependent and independent students in 2011–12

NOTE: Independent students are age 24 or older or meet one of the following requirements: have children or other dependents, served in or are veterans of the U.S. armed forces, or are orphans or wards of the court. Estimates include students enrolled in TitleIV eligible institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (excluding Puerto Rico). Estimates may not sum to totals due to rounding. All values in this figure (along with standard errors) can be found in table 2, available at https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2014902.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center forEducation Statistics, 2011–12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study(NPSAS:12).

Endnotes

¹ This measure may not reflect the actual cost to the student over the long-term because students who finance their education using loans must repay not only the principal balance but also any accrued interest. Total price of attendance includes tuition and fees, books and materials, housing, food, transportation, and personal expenses.
² Among for-profit institutions, out-ofpocket net price was highest in 2008 at $19,000.

Data in this report are from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), a nationally representative sample survey. To learn more, visit https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/npsas. For questions about content or to view this report online, go to https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2014902.

This NCES Data Point presents information on education topics of current interest. It was authored by Laura Horn and Jonathan Paslov of RTI International. Estimates based on samples are subject to sampling variability, and apparent differences may not be statistically significant. All noted differences are statistically significant at the .05 level. In the design, conduct, and data processing of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) surveys, efforts are made to minimize the effects of nonsampling errors, such as item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other systematic error.

TABLE 1. TRENDS IN OUT-OF-POCKET NET PRICE AND TOTAL PRICE: Average out-of-pocket net price and total price among full-time, full-year undergraduates in constant (2012) dollars, by type of institution: Selected years, 2000–12

Type of institution and year	Out-of-pocket net price	Other aid	Work-study	Loans	Grants	Total price
Public 2-year
1999–2000	$9,400	$200	$100	$700	$1,800	$12,100
2003–04	9,400	200	200	800	2,200	12,700
2007–08	9,600	200	200	1,200	2,300	13,600
2011–12	9,600	300	100	1,400	3,400	15,000
Public 4-year
1999–2000	10,100	700	200	3,100	2,800	16,900
2003–04	10,500	900	300	3,400	3,400	18,500
2007–08	10,800	1,100	300	4,200	4,100	20,400
2011–12	11,800	1,500	200	4,500	5,200	23,200
Private nonprofit 4-year
1999–2000	16,700	600	600	5,100	9,000	33,000
2003–04	17,500	700	700	5,600	9,800	35,400
2007–08	17,600	700	700	7,300	11,100	38,800
2011–12	18,100	700	700	6,200	15,600	43,500
For-Profit
1999–2000	14,200	#	#	6,100	2,800	24,700
2003–04	13,000	100	100	6,700	3,800	24,900
2007–08	19,000	100	100	8,800	2,800	31,700
2011–12	15,000	100	100	8,100	4,100	29,300
# Rounds to zero. NOTE: “Grants” include grants, scholarships, and tuition waivers. “Loans” include only loans to students. “Other aid” includes federal Parent PLUS loans, institutional graduate teaching and research assistantships, state vocational rehabilitation and job training grants, federal veterans benefits, and military tuition aid. “Full time” is defined as having been enrolled in one postsecondary institution for 9 months or more full time. “For-profit” includes all less-than-2-year, 2-year, and 4-year for-profit institutions. Estimates include students enrolled in Title IV eligible institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (excluding Puerto Rico). Estimates may not sum to totals due to rounding. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000, 2003–04, 2007–08, and 2011–12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Studies (NPSAS:2000, NPSAS:04, NPSAS:08, and NPSAS:12).

TABLE S1. Standard errors for table 1: TRENDS IN OUT-OF-POCKET NET PRICE AND TOTAL PRICE: Average out-of- pocket net price and total price among full-time, full-year undergraduates in constant (2012) dollars, by type of institution: Selected years, 2000–12

Type of institution and year	Out-of-pocket net price	Other aid	Work-study	Loans	Grants	Total price
Public 2-year
1999–2000	$160	$30	$20	$60	$60	$160
2003–04	200	30	10	60	60	210
2007–08	130	20	10	40	40	120
2011–12	170	30	10	60	90	120
Public 4-year
1999–2000	100	40	20	40	60	230
2003–04	110	30	10	40	50	140
2007–08	80	40	10	50	50	80
2011–12	160	60	10	60	80	170
Private nonprofit 4-year
1999–2000	380	100	30	120	280	470
2003–04	490	90	30	130	360	420
2007–08	280	120	30	150	230	270
2011–12	400	180	30	130	270	350
For-Profit
1999–2000	480	240	†	240	160	490
2003–04	330	160	30	240	180	540
2007–08	440	110	20	250	90	330
2011–12	330	160	10	130	70	340
† Not applicable. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000, 2003–04, 2007–08, and 2011–12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Studies (NPSAS:2000, NPSAS:04, NPSAS:08, and NPSAS:12).

TABLE 2. AVERAGE OUT-OF-POCKET, AID RECEIVED, AND TOTAL PRICE BY INCOME LEVEL IN 2012: Average out-of-pocket net price, financial aid received, and total price by income levels for all full-time, full-year dependent and independent students in 2011–12

Dependency status and income level	Out-of-pocket net price	Other aid	Work-study	Loans	Grants	Total price
Dependent student family income
Lowest 25 percent	$8,500	$900	$400	$3,700	$10,800	$24,400
Lower middle 25 percent	10,900	1,600	400	4,400	8,800	26,000
Upper middle 25 percent	14,900	2,200	300	4,400	6,000	27,800
Highest 25 percent	19,700	2,500	200	3,700	5,400	31,600
Independent student income
Lowest 25 percent	10,900	700	200	5,500	6,700	23,900
Lower middle 25 percent	11,000	900	100	6,000	5,600	23,700
Upper middle 25 percent	11,900	1,300	100	6,100	4,100	23,500
Highest 25 percent	13,900	1,400	#	5,700	2,500	23,500
# Rounds to zero. NOTE: Independent students are age 24 or older or meet one of the following requirements: have children or other dependents, served in or are veterans of the U.S. armed forces, or are orphans or wards of the court. Estimates include students enrolled in Title IV eligible institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (excluding Puerto Rico). Estimates may not sum to totals due to rounding. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2011–12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12).

TABLE S2. Standard errors for table 2: AVERAGE OUT-OF-POCKET, AID RECEIVED, AND TOTAL PRICE BY INCOME LEVEL IN 2012: Average out-of-pocket net price, financial aid received, and total price by income levels for all full-time, full-year dependent and independent students in 2011–12

Dependency status and income level	Out-of-pocket net price	Other aid	Work-study	Loans	Grants	Total price
Dependent student family income
Lowest 25 percent	$210	$80	$20	$80	$220	$250
Lower middle 25 percent	170	90	20	80	180	250
Upper middle 25 percent	250	110	20	100	230	280
Highest 25 percent	320	140	20	110	190	330
Independent student income
Lowest 25 percent	280	90	20	160	200	320
Lower middle 25 percent	250	110	20	160	170	250
Upper middle 25 percent	250	160	20	160	140	310
Highest 25 percent	340	160	†	240	240	480
† Not applicable. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2011–12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12).