Tuition

Facing serious financial trouble in a weak economy, Cooper Union, the New York City college founded in 1859 to provide free education for the working class, may begin charging undergraduate tuition for the first time in more than a century, its president said Monday.

And then they'll press legislators hard for more state dollars, they say.

College costs for Mississippi's students are well below national averages, but are increasing - along with some students' anxiety about their debt upon graduation.

It was a transformation that was, by historical standards, remarkably swift: The decade of the 2000s saw a fundamental shift in how Americans answer the question “Who will pay for college?’’

President Obama's plans to provide student loan relief could affect students attending Bemidji State University, a school that has the highest tuition rate among the seven four-year state universities in Minnesota.

The percentage increase in tuition and fees at Connecticut's four-year public universities for the current academic year — about 2.5 percent — was among the smallest in the country, according to a report released Wednesday by the College Board.

Tuition at Stanford University in 1980-81 was $6,285. Thirty years later, Stanford’s tuition had risen to $38,700. Tuition in 2011-12 is $40,050. If the cost of milk had grown at the same rate, a gallon of milk would now cost approximately $15.

California's public universities enacted the highest average tuition increase, 21%, of any state, the College Board finds. Steep state funding cuts to higher ed were significant factors in pushing up tuition and fees nationwide.

As President Obama prepared to announce new measures Wednesday to help ease the burden of student loan debt, new figures painted a demoralizing picture of college costs for students and parents: Average in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose an additional $631 this fall, or 8.3 percent, compared with a year ago.

At a time when many Hoosiers are upset at the rising cost of college, Indiana University announced a plan Monday to discount summer tuition.