College operating costs rose 3.4% in fiscal 2024

Higher Ed Dive

Ben Unglesbee

December 16, 2024

Dive Brief:

• Costs for operating a college rose 3.4% in fiscal 2024, according to the latest Higher Education Price Index from the Commonfund Institute.

• The price increases outpaced Commonfund’s preliminary projections this spring of 3% for the year. However, the HEPI showed that inflation has slowed more than half a percentage point from fiscal 2023 and is down nearly 2 percentage points from 2022’s 5.2% inflation rate.

• Utility prices and those for supplies and materials slowed the most significantly, after recent years of volatility in those areas. While costs for institutions are cooling, “there is an ongoing trend of inflation rates remaining elevated compared with the previous decade,” Commonfund said.

Dive Insight:

Any slowdown in expense growth is welcome news for colleges. But that doesn’t translate to lower prices, and costs are still at painful levels following past spikes. Those costs are made all the more painful if stagnant or falling enrollment constrains revenue.

Many colleges are grappling with those issues — hence the frequent laments about inflation this year from struggling and downsizing colleges.

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