What is the price of college?: Total, Net and Out-of-Pocket

commercial products, or organizations does not imp-ly endorsement by the U.S. Government. Students and parents see college attendance as a principal avenue to middle-class life, and, given the rising price of postsecondary education, they are apprehensive about their ability to af-ford it.1 In a recent survey of college freshmen, about two-thirds (66 percent) reported having concerns about being able to finance their education.2 Many U.S. policymakers and researchers share their concern, and are exploring ways to make college more affordable.3 Legislators have required colleges and universities to pro-vide more extensive information about tuition and prices, and in the Higher Edu-cation Opportunity Act of 2008 mandated a host of price-related measures, including institutional net price calculators on col-lege websites, the reporting of net price data to the U.S. Department of Education, and the creation and posting of “Colleg