For Immediate Release
Tim McDonough
American Council on Education
(202) 939-9365
tim_mcdonough@ace.nche.edu

Statement by American Council on Education President David Ward on the College Board’s Annual Report on Tuition and Student Aid

(Washington, DC—Oct. 19, 2004) "Today's news from the College Board on a moderation in tuition prices is a welcome development for students and families around the country. This development is due to a variety of factors, including some increases in state support for higher education, an increase in endowment earnings, and a lot of hard work by campuses to cut costs. When coupled with a record $122 billion available in financial aid, the moderation in tuition should help alleviate many anxieties about college access and affordability. Still, I remain concerned about the overall financial health of higher education in the United States. Today's good news only masks what I believe are very serious, long-term issues in financing higher education that ultimately threaten the social compact that has served students and families so well for more than 50 years. Until we publicly debate the quiet cost-shifting from state support to tuition that continues in far too many states, no amount of effort by our institutions to raise revenue and cut expenses will be able to preserve affordable tuition formulas, particularly at public colleges and universities.

Beyond the news stories that will be generated about these reports, we must also keep in mind that a staggering number of Americans do not even bother to apply for student financial aid. As ACE learned in the recent report, Missed Opportunities: Students Who Do Not Apply for Financial, fully half of all undergraduates during the year 1999-2000 failed to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). It is deeply troubling to think that students may have missed the opportunity to receive needed assistance simply because they failed to fill out a federal form that is available on the Internet and in almost any high school or college financial aid office. We all must redouble our efforts to educate students and their families about this process and simplify what increasingly seems to be a Byzantine system. If ever there was a time to advertise the availability of student aid, that time is now.”

Missed Opportunities: Students Who Do Not Apply for Financial Aid is available as a PDF document on the ACE web site.

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Founded in 1918, ACE is the nation’s largest higher education association, representing more than 1,600 college and university presidents, and more than 200 related associations, nationwide. It seeks to provide leadership and a unifying voice on key higher education issues and influence public policy through advocacy, research, and program initiatives.