(The Center Square) – Tennessee college students often face sticker shock when looking at costs, a new study from the Sycamore Institute says.
However, for some students, the cost is less than anticipated.
The nonpartisan public policy research center found that students use a combination of federal, state and private resources when paying for secondary education. The report only looks at public and private two-year and four-year institutions and does not include technical post-education.
Nearly all Tennessee undergraduates receive some type of aid that doesn’t require repayment, said Brian Straessle, executive director of the Sycamore Institute in an interview with The Center Square.
“The biggest chunk of money on average that families use to pay for college is parent’s income,” Straessle said. “Students, also a lot of them are working and contributing their income either through federal work-study programs or just other jobs that they hold down. Sometimes they will take out loans – student or credit cards.”
Scholarships help, but have their own challenges.
Many students are awarded scholarships, but some cannot retain them because of grades or “complexity and confusion,” the report said.
And a scholarship in 2024 does not have the same value as a scholarship 20 years ago.
“Over time, the value of those scholarship has sort of been eaten away, by inflation, so when the Hope Scholarship was created about two decades ago, it covered about 70% of the costs of tuition and fees at your four-year public colleges and universities,” Straessle said. “Over time that drops by about 30% range. A couple of years ago the legislature and the governor sort of changed the law an increased the amount that students could receive but it’s still covering only about 50% of those tuition and fees that students encounter.”
The Hope Scholarship is funded by money collected from sports wagering taxes.
Another scholarship program, Tennessee Promise, reached its 10-year milestone this year. It’s a last-dollar scholarship for community college students, paying whatever is left after other financial aid has been considered. The program also funds up to $4,000 for associate degrees at four-year colleges.
Aside from tuition, Tennessee college students face other pressures, including food insecurity and housing.
“Food insecurity occurs when someone has limited or uncertain access to adequate food – often because they cannot afford it,” the report said. “According to surveys, between 20% and 40% of U.S. college students experience food insecurity. In 2022, Tennessee’s public colleges and universities estimated that about 30% of their students were food insecure.”
Housing accounts for a quarter of outside costs for college students, according to the report. Housing costs have risen over the past few years.
“This has been connected to many students opting for on-campus housing, leading to housing shortages for universities statewide,” the report said. “These schools have reportedly leased hotels, apartment complexes, and nearby residences to fill the housing shortages faced by their students.”
