Public college education in Washington has been getting less costly, in line with a national trend spurred by higher funding, according to a recent report.
Average in-state tuition at four-year colleges in Washington, after adjusting for inflation, is now 4.7% lower than it was in the 2019-20 academic year, according to the report published by College Board, a standardized testing organization. For two-year colleges, tuition fell by 7.1%.
The report authors adjusted values for inflation, meaning the percentage changes account for increases in the Consumer Price Index.
Average costs of higher education at public schools declined across the country. Nationwide, in-state tuition fell by 9.5% at four-year colleges and by 11% on average at two-year colleges compared to the 2019-2020 academic year.
One of the biggest reasons for this trend is an increase in local and state funding for higher education, said Jennifer Ma, executive research scientist at College Board and one of the report’s authors.
“We looked at state and local funding going back 30 years, and we see that for the last decade or so, state and local funding has been increasing,” Ma said. “That really helps public colleges and universities in terms of revenues. Because of that, they can hold their tuition steady.”
In Washington, state and local funding per full-time student for higher education has risen 83% over the past 10 years, per the report. The national average in the same period was 39%.
In the current school year, average published in-state tuition and fees are $5,276 for public two-year schools and $11,848 for public four-year schools in Washington — after being adjusted for inflation.
The report also tracked tuition and fees at flagship universities nationwide. For the University of Washington, in-state tuition and fees cost $12,970 for the current academic year, a 7.9% decrease from the 2019-20 academic year. Out-of-state tuition and fees cost $43,210, which fell at the higher end of published costs.
Student aid contributes to reducing college costs. Over the past two decades, the average value of grants — which do not need to be paid back the way loans do — has increased, helping to draw down the net cost of attendance. Taken together, these trends point to a broader shift in the overall affordability of college.
“Sticker prices tend to get the most attention,” Ma said. “But the net price — what students pay after taking grant aid out — is what really matters in terms of the bottom line.”
In 2019, the Washington Legislature passed the Workforce Education Investment Act, a groundbreaking bill that effectively guaranteed free tuition for students from families with incomes at or below 70% of the state median. Previously, need-based aid was limited; some fraction of students eligible for help would typically end up receiving none because the money had run out.
For the current school year, a student from a family of four making $78,500 or less could be eligible for free college. Those from families earning $120,500 or less are eligible for some aid.
Critically, however, the program doesn’t cover housing or food, two other major sources of costs related to higher education. That’s where additional student aid plays a role.
Nationwide, Ma and her co-authors found that on average, loans comprise a smaller proportion of total aid that students use to afford college. For the last school year, loans made up just 28% of total aid used by undergraduate students to supplement their own resources, compared with 38% a decade prior. In the same window, use of grants increased to 67% from 53%.
Ma attributed this shift to growing awareness of student debt. “Students and families are more aware of student debt issues. They may be thinking twice before taking on some debt.”
