Affordability a growing problem for low-income students

A group of education reporters and editors recently created a website to track how much money students from different income brackets are paying to attend college.

One immediate takeaway from the folks who created the free site, called TuitionTracker.org: Students from lower-income families are paying more for college than they were a few years ago.

Political leaders in Georgia and much of the nation have looked for ways in recent years with mixed results to make college more affordable for lowerincome students as data continues to show they’re paying more in tuition and it’s taking a greater portion of their family income.

The website suggests there’s more work to do.

College costs for lowincome students after grants and scholarships, which Tuition Tracker calls the “net price,” increased by more than 30 percent in a recent five-year stretch at several of Georgia’s largest private and public colleges and universities.

Low-income students are described as those with family incomes less than $30,000 a year, which represents about one-quarter of Georgia families, according to some researchers. The cost of college for students whose families make more than $110,000 annually increased at a slower pace for many of those same Georgia colleges and universities.