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FrontRow · Aug 16, 2026

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With a growing number of colleges and universities costing more than $100,000 a year, higher education is slipping out of reach for many students, several reports now show. Just 12% of surveyed Americans say four-year colleges are affordable, according to a recent Lumina Foundation and Gallup poll, which surveyed 14,000 adults without a degree or who are working toward one, nearly 6,000 college graduates, and 2,000 employers June 1-15. Cost is the single biggest barrier to entry for prospective students, an earlier Lumina Foundation and Gallup release from the same study said. "Americans haven't given up on higher education; they want it for their children ... but they are questioning whether they can afford it," said Courtney Brown, chief data and research officer for the Lumina Foundation, which is aimed at improving higher education access. Because so many families struggle to cover the tab, they have increasingly depended on federal and private aid to help foot the bill.

With a growing number of colleges and universities costing more than $100,000 a year, higher education is slipping out of reach for many students, several reports now show. Just 12% of surveyed Americans say four-year colleges are affordable, according to a recent Lumina Foundation and Gallup poll, which surveyed 14,000 adults without a degree or who are working toward one, nearly 6,000 college graduates, and 2,000 employers June 1-15. Cost is the single biggest barrier to entry for prospective students, an earlier Lumina Foundation and Gallup release from the same study said. "Americans haven't given up on higher education; they want it for their children ... but they are questioning whether they can afford it," said Courtney Brown, chief data and research officer for the Lumina Foundation, which is aimed at improving higher education access. Because so many families struggle to cover the tab, they have increasingly depended on federal and private aid to help foot the bill.

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