Student Financial Aid as a Method of Cost Sharing at Private Colleges

With need-based financial aid creating differences in the net prices that students pay, private colleges have implemented a system of cost sharing among students\u27 families. This article provides an analysis of the cost sharing that occurs as a result of college funded grants. The perspective is applied to develop estimates of the extent of cost sharing which occurs at a group of New England private colleges. A suggestion is offered concerning how the cost-sharing perspective may help to explain recent trends in increases in students\u27 college costs and in institutional and other student financial aid. An earlier version of this article was presented in May 1989 at the National Association of State Scholarship and Grant Programs/National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs (NASSGP/NCHELP) Research Conference on Student Financial Aid Research