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State College Affordability Profiles

Growing Gap


National College Attainment Network (NCAN) members and partners know that financial barriers can prevent students from low-income backgrounds from accessing and completing a postsecondary education. To address this issue, the federal government, state governments, and many higher education institutions offer financial aid programs, but these aid dollars – combined with family contributions and student wages – are too often not enough for students from limited means to cover the full cost of college attendance.

One part of the problem is the declining purchasing power of the Pell Grant. The Pell Grant is federal, need-based aid that provides crucial support for more than seven million college students each year. At its peak in 1975-76, the maximum Pell award could have covered more than three-fourths of the average cost of attendance – tuition, fees, and living expenses – at a four-year public university. Today, it covers roughly 30% of the cost of attendance.

Learn more about how we can strengthen the Pell Grant program here.

State Affordability Profiles

 

 

How Advocates for College Affordability Can Use This Research

Want to help change the college affordability landscape for Pell Grant recipients? NCAN members can use the interactive Affordability Gap dashboard to view trends in states and at the institutional level. NCAN’s state profiles (linked above) offer an overview of the latest data for Pell Grant funding, FAFSA completion, college enrollment, and degree attainment for each state.

Here are some ways that NCAN members can use the research and tools:

  1. Advocacy: Meet with your federal/state policymakers and inform them of the affordability issues that your students face. Policymakers can help advance efforts to make postsecondary education financially attainable. These resources are fantastic collateral in your advocacy toolkit. This research documents why states need to continue investing in public postsecondary institutions and need-based aid programs. Consider, especially, using these state profiles in your advocacy meetings. Download your state's copy and share it with your elected officials. The data can be used to draft talking points for your meetings, and supplement your students' stories.
  2. Communications: Program leaders can use NCAN’s affordability material in their communications. They can also use the state-specific data to develop op-eds and media pitches to show how college is becoming increasingly unaffordable in their state and what policymakers can do to address the issue.
  3. Fundraising: Development professionals can use the research and resources to support arguments made in grant applications, as well as in fundraising appeals to individual donors who contribute to program supports and scholarships.
  4. Advising: While the dashboard is not designed as a student-facing tool, advisers can learn more about which institutions generally have more generous financial aid packages in their state.

FAQs

How does NCAN determine if a college or university is affordable for a Pell Grant recipient?

NCAN proposes that for each institution in our sample, the total price of college for an in-state student, plus an additional $300 to account for emergency expenses, should not exceed the combined total of grant aid, loans, Federal Work Study (FWS), an estimated expected family contribution (EFC), and a student’s summer wages. These metrics are defined as follows:

  • Total price: For in-state students living on campus (bachelor’s-granting institutions); for in-state students living off-campus, not with family (community colleges). Sourced from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).
  • Emergency expenses: NCAN uses a $300 constant to approximate unforeseen expenses that may present an obstacle for students’ postsecondary success.
  • Grant aid: Average amount of federal, state, local, and institutional grant aid awarded to full-time, first-time, undergraduate students. (IPEDS)
  • Student loans: Average amount of federal loans disbursed to full-time, first-time undergraduate students. (IPEDS)
  • Federal Work Study: Average institutional disbursement of Federal Work Study dollars (total FWS disbursement/number of FWS recipients at each institution.) FWS data comes from Federal Student Aid’s campus-based program report. 
  • Expected Family Contribution: We use federal Pell Grant Program Annual Data Report data to calculate an EFC value in a given academic year, by subtracting the average Pell Grant amount from the maximum Pell Grant amount.  Although EFC was discontinued starting with the 2024-25 FAFSA award year, IPEDS’ releases have not yet caught up with that academic year and we maintain the use of EFC for this analysis at present.
  • Summer Wages: Calculated as a state’s minimum wage multiplied by 40 hours per week for 12 weeks. Minimum wage data comes from the US Department of Labor.

When an institution’s total price plus emergency expenses exceeds the sum of grants, loans, Federal Work Study, our proxy for EFC, and three months of summer earnings at minimum wage, NCAN refers to the remaining cost as an “affordability gap.” The gap represents the average cost unmet by the various financial aid sources included in our model. 

It is important to note that our inclusion of loans in the analysis means that students attending institutions with affordability margins will ultimately need to pay back a portion of the total cost of attendance.

You can explore NCAN's Affordability Gap college research and visit our interactive dashboard to explore the data and trends further.

What other advocacy resources does NCAN offer?

Lots! Explore our State Policy Resource Library, Federal Policy Action Center, and more!