Institutional Grant Aid Changes, 2006-2011

It's no surprise to readers of this blog how much college costs have risen over time. It's also no secret what's happened to family income over that same period.

How have colleges responded? By dipping deeper into their own pockets, of course (and if you want to talk about the pain of healing self-inflicted wounds, go right ahead; I won't stop you.)

This shows three things for each of about 1,500 private, four-year universities in the US: What percentage of students received institutional aid in 2006 (fat gray bar); what percentage received institutional aid in 2011 (thin red bar); and the delta over time (orange bar on right).

You can use the filters to narrow down the list: Choose a region and/or a state. (Note: Those two filters cascade: That is, if you choose "Great Lakes" you won't be able to select "Alabama" in the state section, for instance.) I've begun by limiting the view to colleges and universities of 2,500 full-time undergraduates or more, just because most of the previously-noted problems with IPEDS data occur at smaller institutions, as many of these places have smaller IR staffs. You can change that, using the Enrollment Filter.)

The institutions are sorted by the delta, in the right-hand column. Go to the label on either axis (at the bottom) and click on the little black icon that appears when you hover to sort in different ways. Click to your heart's content; it cycles through various views.

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