Average Tuition and Fees at Academic Institutions, 1999-2004

Tuition at South Carolina's four-year public institutions increased by 106 percent over the five-year period, 1999-2004, the highest such increase in the nation, according to the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and North Carolina rounded off the top five in the same measure, with each state's institutions having increases of more than 50 percent.

For the 2003-04 academic year, NCES estimates the average cost for tuition and fees was $4,630 at four-year public institutions, $17,902 at four-year private institutions, and $1,670 at two-year public institutions. Between 1999 and 2004, tuition and fees rose by 38 percent at four-year public institutions, by 23 percent at four-year private institutions, and by 25 percent at two-year public institutions, according to the data.

SSTI has constructed state-by-state tables comparing the cost of tuition and fees at four-year public, four-year private, and two-year public institutions from 1999 to 2004. The tables are drawn from data in NCES’ Digest of Education Statistics and are available at http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/121205t.htm. The Digest of Education Statistics is available in its entirety at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/.