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Minnesota State Colleges and Universities: Board of Trustees

System-Level Accountability Scorecard
Assessments: Progress toward Implementing the Strategic Plan

Access & Opportunities Indicator 1: Access to Programs & Courses - Minnesotans have access to an array of MnSCU programs and courses.

Measure 1C: Affordability

Measure 1C reports the percent of the cost of attendance that system students pay after subtracting federal, state, institutional and private financial aid (Net Cost 3). The numerator is the net cost of attendance paid by students. The denominator is total cost of attendance (click here for a printer friendly PDF copy of this page).

Significance: Measure 1C is signficant in that it indicates the extent to which a Minnesota State Colleges and Universities education is affordable.

Measure: System students, on average, paid 67 percent of their total cost of attendance, as shown in Figure 1C-1. Financial aid applicants paid 53 percent of their costs and non-applicants paid 97 percent of their costs.

Context: The net cost as a percent of total cost for system students is slightly lower than U.S. average figures for comparable institutions, as shown in Figure 1C-2. State college students pay 73 percent of total costs, while the average for U.S. public two-year colleges is 77 percent. State university students pay 60 percent of total costs, while the average for U.S. public four-year universities is 61 percent.

Drill-Downs: Part-time students pay a larger percent of their total costs of attendance than full-time students, as shown in Figure 1C-3. The lowest-income part-time financial aid applicants taking either six to eight credits or nine to 11 credits paid 60 and 67 percent of their cost of attendance, compared to 43 percent for the lowest-income full-time financial aid applicants.

After subtracting parental and family contributions, lowest-income part-time financial aid applicants had net costs of $7,087 (9 to 11 credits) and $7,532 (6 to 8 credits) compared to $5,007 for full-time students, as shown in Figure 1C-4.

Noel-Levtiz Study (March 2005):

Noel-Levitz, a nationally recognized research firm, conducted a telephone survey of 615 students currently enrolled in one or more of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. Results confirm the results shown in Measure 1C that showed students are borrowing heavily.

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