College affordability applies to students, not to parents.
Parents can subsidize students to make college more affordable for them. But the focus should be on the students themselves.
Introduction
Widespread concern about whether college is “affordable” has prompted a search for policy solutions. The president, members of Congress, and other officials promise to take actions to assure that college is affordable. But little effort has been made to develop a concrete definition of affordability. The discussion usually focuses on the price of college and other associated expenses, and on the growth in prices relative to family incomes. Instead, we should focus on whether students, regardless of age when enrolling, can reasonably expect to improve their long-term standards of living, even after paying for college.
Summary
To better understand and measure college affordability, we should focus on students and what they can afford. We should expect students to combine a variety of funds to pay for education: their own resources at the time they enroll, the earnings premium they expect to gain from their education, and the subsidies their parents should be able to provide.
There will never be one fixed answer when it comes to college affordability. Education opportunities come with a wide range of prices, and the net prices that individual students pay for the same institutions and programs vary widely. Individuals and families have different preferences and priorities. This can make the cost of college look very different, even to students in similar financial circumstances.
College affordability is a complex issue with myriad factors at play. But good data can help provide a complete picture of the financial accessibility of different educational options—for all types of students. A good next step would be to compile available data on the variables discussed in this paper and analyze them and the relationships among them. Doing so would help present a coherent picture of college affordability over time.