Department or Program

Economics

Abstract

As higher education becomes more tied to social mobility, college affordability has become a key issue. While public discussions often focus on rising sticker prices, net price trends indicate what students actually pay and vary across income groups. This thesis examines how college affordability in the United States has evolved over the last fifteen years across different institutional factors and evaluates the impact of recent policy interventions. Using institution-level panel data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), I analyze 1,186 nonprofit four-year institutions from 2008–2009 to 2022–2023. Descriptive analysis reveals that, although there is some heterogeneity in net price growth by ranking and research intensity, prices have generally increased in parallel across institutions. To assess the role of government funding, I examine the effects of pandemic-era federal aid (HEERF) and New York’s Excelsior Scholarship, a last-dollar free tuition program. Leveraging variation in per-student funding driven by a rigid allocation formula, I find that higher per-student funding is associated with statistically significant improvements in affordability, particularly at public institutions. However, these gains are concentrated among middle- and higher-income students. Likewise, using difference-in-difference and triple-difference models, I find that Excelsior primarily benefits students with family incomes between $75,000 and $110,000. Overall, the findings highlight both the potential affordability gains of recent interventions and the challenges of increasing affordability for the intended groups.

Level of Access

Restricted: Embargoed [Open Access After Expiration]

First Advisor

Smith, Austin

Date of Graduation

5-2026

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Number of Pages

93

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Embargoed

Available to all on Saturday, May 15, 2027

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