A new study being released today on the skyrocketing cost of higher education says there are only five states where all the four-year public colleges are affordable for low-income students, and in many of those, the students still need to borrow money to get by.
In a third of all states, low-income students need loans even to attend some two-year community colleges, the study found.
The findings of the year-old Lumina Foundation for Education have sparked sharp criticism from higher education groups.
The foundation rated nearly 3,000 colleges and universities and said that while at least half the public four-year schools in 40 states are financially manageable for median-income students, those students often need loans.
Only in Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Kentucky and Wyoming are all four-year public colleges affordable for low-income people, it said.
Critics complained that the study flies in the face of reality: 15 million people from all income levels attend college at two- and four-year schools. They also charged that the study risks discouraging those who might benefit most from a college degree.
Lumina's vice president for research, Jerry Davis, said the study focuses on the hardships imposed by paying for college.
"We're saying students and families must make inordinate financial sacrifices to attend those schools," Davis said. The struggle to afford college leads some to quit, he said.
Davis said he had hoped that higher education officials would use the study to help secure more state and federal aid for students.
The study used 1998 federal statistics on income, enrollment and financial aid, among other factors.
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