Federal officials release college cost comparisons
By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER, Associated Press
9:02 p.m., June 29, 2011
Looking for a college bargain? Try any of nine University of Puerto Rico campuses, where annual tuition hovers at or below $2,000.
Counting pennies? Avoid Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, a private school where tuition, fees and room and board exceeds $50,000, making it one of the five most expensive schools on a new U.S. Department of Education guide to college costs.
The federal agency released its College Affordability and Transparency lists on Thursday to fulfill a reporting requirement passed into law in 2008. The online lists track tuition costs among the top and bottom 5 percent of four-year and two-year schools. The measures include public, private and for-profit colleges and universities.
Separate lists show the most and least affordable schools when scholarships and other financial factors are considered. The Education Department says those "sticker prices" better reflect out-of-pocket attendance costs. Two other lists track the rate of tuition increases as well as the rate of
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