The Affordability of Public Higher Education: 1970–90

The paper compares changes in family income, Pell grants, Stafford loans, and state grants with changes in the average costs of public universities and two-year colleges. It concludes that both sectors of higher education became more affordable to low- and middle-income families during the 1970s. But beginning in 1980 they both became less affordable. The only exception was that two-year colleges became increasingly affordable to low-income families during both decades.