Average tuition fees for a four-year degree at a US public university rose by 15 per cent between 2008 and 2010, fuelled by state budget cuts and fee hikes of 40 per cent or more in states such as Georgia, Arizona and California, Associated Press reported. The US Department of Education’s annual look at college affordability also found significant price increases at private universities, including for-profit organisations, where the net price for a degree can be twice that at Harvard University. At Full Sail University in central Florida, for example, the average cost totals around $43,990 (£28,300), even when grants and scholarships are factored in. By contrast, the average net price for a Harvard student is around $18,277. US education secretary Arne Duncan said that to turn things round, students needed to be smart consumers and states needed to make higher education a budget priority.
Source Times Higher Education http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=420311&c=1