Tuition, Fees, and Financial Aid

• Undergraduate resident tuition at four-year colleges rose in most states, with increases ranging from 1.3 percent in Colorado to 6.6 percent in Montana (see Figure 1).

• California decreased systemwide student fees by 5 percent at both the California State University and the University of California.

• For fall 1998, the increase in resident tuition at two-year colleges ranged from 1.3 percent in Colorado to 5.6 percent in Montana (see Figure 2). California decreased community college resident fees by 7.7 percent, and North Dakota’s two-year institutions experienced no tuition increase.
  

• Nonresident undergraduate tuition at two-year institutions declined by 1.3 percent in Oregon but increases ranged from .8 percent in Hawaii to 9.1 percent in Nevada.

• Nonresident undergraduate tuition at four-year colleges remained unchanged at California State University campuses while increases in other states ranged from 3.3 percent in Colorado to 7.5 percent in Hawaii.

• North Dakota’s Board of Higher Education reviewed various tuition policy alternatives but elected to retain current tuition-setting policies.

• An unsuccessful bill sponsored by Alaska’s governor would have given the top 10 percent of the state’s high school seniors a four-year $10,800 scholarship to attend the University of Alaska.

• California allocated over $57 million in new funds for state administered financial aid–an increase of nearly 20 percent over the prior year–with significant new funds for students preparing to be teachers and increased general fund support for the Cal Grant Program.

For complete 1998-99 tuition and fee data, see WICHE’s annual report, Tuition and Fees in Public Higher Education in the West, 1998-99 also available on the Web at http://www.wiche.edu.