Tristate college students have been feeling the crunch of unprecedented tuition increases in recent months, but a national study released today confirms just how bad it is.

        The report, Losing Ground, was released by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, an independent, non-profit think tank in San Jose, Calif.

        The study shows public higher education has become less affordable for all but the wealthiest of American families. And the economic downturn is only making that burden more acute.

INFOGRAPHIC

• Trends over the past 10 years for college affordability

        The study focuses on the nation's public two- and four-year colleges and universities, which enroll about 80 percent of college students in America.

        In the Tristate, schools in Kentucky and Ohio are following the trend with steep tuition hikes and, in some cases, mid-year increases to keep up with cuts in state funding for higher education. At the University of Cincinnati, tuition has increased 23.5 percent in two years.

        “The near future in terms of affordability is only going to get worse,” said Donald Heller, a professor at Pennsylvania State University and a member of the study's advisory panel.

        “Hopefully, we'll get the attention of policy makers.”

        Jim Williams, director of enrollment services at UC, said he has seen an explosion in the number of students in the last 15 years who need loans.

        “We are seeing the strain that's being placed on students and their families to meet their college costs,” he said. “It's a very serious situation, especially for low-income families.”

        The report identifies five trends that have emerged over the last two decades and continue:

        • College has become less affordable, as measured from the American family perspective.

        Study results show the percentage of family income required to pay for tuition increased for all families except those in the top 20 percent. And low-income families are becoming critically vulnerable.

        “If we don't find a way to put a safety net under them, then for all intents and purposes we're confining them to the fringes of society,” said Dennis P. Jones, a higher education expert and president of the Colorado-based National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.

        • Financial aid grants have increased but not as fast as tuition.

        The average federal Pell Grant award to needy students at a public four-year school covered 98 percent of tuition in 1986, but only 57 percent in 1999. Need- and non-need based state awards paid 75 percent and 64 percent, in 1986 and 1999, respectively.

        The report urges policymakers to take a hard look at how family income is affected when they make decision about funding higher education.

        • More students are borrowing more money to pay for college.

        Mary Catharine Pluckebaum, 21, a Xavier University senior, has a partial scholarship, works two jobs and has the help of her parents. But she still needed to take out loans.

        “It's tough, but if you know where to look there are a lot of places that offer scholarships,” she said. “A lot of students who don't think they can afford college, I don't think they've looked in the right place.”

        • For the past 20 years, states and public colleges have raised tuition most precipitously during tough economic times. During recessions in the early 1980s and '90s, tuition increased at a high rate. That trend is re-emerging.

        • State support has risen faster than inflation and enrollment despite years of budget cuts. But tuition, which has risen 107 percent since 1980, has been the fastest-growing source of revenues for public institutions.

        “We have heard this (information) and been painfully aware for a long time,” said UC's Mr. Williams. “I hope this message is clear and heard, but as far as the impact (of the study), it's difficult for me to say.”

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