Lower Costs, Higher Returns: UNCF HBCUs in a High-Priced College Environment. Financing African American College Aspirations Series

While research consistently shows the earning power of college degrees, those returns are best weighed against the cost of attending post-secondary institutions, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) included. This study is an update of "Affordability of UNCF-Member Institutions" (2009), and compares the average costs at the 37 historically black colleges and universities HBCUs that comprise the UNCF network to comparable private, not-for-profit institutions. "Affordability" is a relative term, but this analysis demonstrates that UNCF-member institutions are considerably more affordable than comparable institutions despite tuition increases across the country since the great recession began in late 2007. Specifically, this analysis found that: (1) The average total price for attending UNCF-member institutions in the 2012-13 academic year was about 26 percent lower than the average total price for each institution's comparison group that same year; (2) For all four academic years examined (2009-10 through 2012-13), the average price for attending UNCF-member institutions was more than 25 percent lower than the price of their comparison groups; (3) The average annual increase between 2009 and 2012 in the total cost of attending UNCF's member institutions was 3.88 percent, while the average annual increase in the costs of comparison groups was 4.10 percent; and (4) In a comparison of net prices, where the out-of-pocket costs paid by students after financial aid is factored in, we see an average net price for UNCF's member institutions of $16,483, 19.8% lower than the average net price for their comparison groups ($20,561). Appended are: (1) UNCF-Member Institutions' and Comparison Groups Prices and Average Annual Change, by Institution, Academic Years 2009-2010 to 2012-2013; and (2) UNCF-Member Institutions' and Comparison Groups Net Prices, by Institution, Academic Years 2011-2012.