Housing and food (room and board) has become “the fastest-growing cost of college,” says The Hechinger Report. Housing costs are increasing faster than tuition, and some colleges are working to rein in expenses—for instance, by providing more student residences, temporarily setting up students in hotels, having resident assistants share dorm rooms, or incentivizing students to commute to school, according to USA Today.
Much of the college affordability conversation has centered on tuition, but tuition growth has slowed in recent years, according to new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Between academic years 2021-22 and 2022-23, average first-time, full-time student tuition and fees fell when adjusted for inflation. However, the College Board found that from 2010-20, housing/room and board rose by 14% more than inflation, according to The Hechinger Report.
“Tuition hasn’t been growing, but housing costs are growing,” Jason Cohn, research associate at the Center on Education Data and Policy at the Urban Institute, tells The Hechinger Report. “The college affordability conversation should really be moving to living expenses.”
Tuition-free doesn’t mean affordable
In-state students at public two- and four- year colleges now pay more for room and board than for tuition, says the College Board. In the 2023-24 academic year, students at public four-year institutions paid an average of $12,770 in room and board, compared to $11,260 in tuition and fees. Similarly, community college students spent $3,990 on tuition and fees compared to $9,970 on room and board. Students living off campus face increasing rent prices, while on-campus students at both public and private nonprofit institutions also are facing higher food and housing costs, according to National Center for Education Statistics data.
Even if financial aid covers tuition costs, “that doesn’t mean that college is necessarily affordable,” said Cohn. Students who get grant aid for tuition still take out loans for food, housing, and other costs, according to a report Cohn co-authored for the Urban Institute.
Addressing the housing crisis
Colleges and universities have worked to bring down costs by expanding on- and off-campus student housing, but have faced neighborhood opposition, zoning restrictions, and rising labor costs. Some colleges have been able to proceed with their housing plans, especially those located in cities where rents are higher than the national median of $1,300. In Burlington, home of the University of Vermont (UVM), the median rent is $2,800 as of Sept. 4, and Vermont is one of several states with the lowest proportion of available rental units. To alleviate the crunch, UVM is building more housing units for graduate students and other employees.
In Nashville, where the median rent is $2,230 as of Sept. 4, Vanderbilt University opened new residences for graduate and professional students for the 2023-2024 academic year and is increasing stipends and housing support this academic year for its nearly 1,900 doctoral students. In Austin, which has a median rent of $2,189, the University of Texas at Austin (UT) has budgeted $7 million this year for on-campus housing scholarships of up to $2,300 per year for 3,500 students, The Hechinger Report says. Providing more affordable student housing not only helps the campus community but also the cities in which they are located.
“If we pull our students out of the market and put them in our housing, there’s now more affordable housing in the rest of the city,” Jay Hartzell, president of UT Austin, tells The Hechinger Report. “By adding supply we’re actually helping the entire city.”