Public Policy and Higher Education in the West:  A Tuition and Fee Update 
Public Two-Year Colleges

Among two-year public institutions in the West (excluding California) between 1997-98 and 1998-99, the average tuition and fees charged to in-district students increased by 3.9 percent; out-of-district residents paid 3.5 percent more.¹ Both of these annual percentage change rates were higher than the 1.9 percent increase in public four-year institutions but lower than the rate of increase at public four-year institutions when California institutions are excluded.

• The average resident in-district tuition and fees at public two-year institutions in the WICHE region was $1,302 in 1998-99, up from $1,253 one year earlier. Average tuition and fees for resident out-of-district students was $1,749, up from $1,690 in 1997-98 (see Figure 3).

• The one-year change in tuition and fees for in-district residents ranged from a decrease of 7.7 percent in California to an increase of 7.2 percent in Idaho. For out-of-district residents, tuition and fee changes ranged from a decrease of 7.7 percent in California to an increase of 5.6 percent in Wyoming.

Historical trends show that the 3.9 percent one-year increase in tuition and fees for in-district residents and the 3.5 percent increase for out-of-district residents are the lowest year-to-year increases in the past 10 years. Over the past decade, tuition and fees increased 90.3 percent for in-district residents and 72.1 percent for out-of-district residents (see Figure 4).

The average annual percentage change in tuition and fees at public two-year institutions in the region has declined since the early 1990s. Regionally in the last five years, the year-to-year percentage increase in tuition and fees for resident in-district students was 7.4 percent in 1993-94, 4.7 percent in 1994-95, 5.8 percent in 1995-96, 5.1 percent in 1996-97, and 3.9 percent in 1997-98. For students out-of-district, the increases over the same period were 8.8 percent in 1993-94, 3.6 percent in 1994-95, 4.5 percent in 1995-96, 3.7 percent in 1996-97, and 3.5 percent in 1997-98.

Endnotes:

¹California institutions were excluded from all calculations because the large number of two-year colleges and the historically low matriculation fee structure distort regional patterns.