Findings

Overall Affordability Indicators

Fees for attendance at California's public institutions have increased much faster than inflation in the 1990s. In constant dollars from 1990-91 to 1995-96, fees rose 97 percent at UC, 80 percent at CSU, and 198 percent at CCC. The average annual increase in fees was 15, 13, and 27 percent at UC, CSU, and CCC, respectively. (See Table 1.)
Public college and university charges rose most sharply in the early 1990s, then leveled off in the mid-1990s. This pattern follows the historical trend, with more of the cost burden shifting to students in the form of higher fees when the state's economy and revenues are down-as they were in the early 1990s and the early 1980s. (See Figure 1.)

Tuition charged by independent nonprofit institutions, meanwhile, rose 12 percent in constant dollars between 1990-91 and 1995-96-the lowest rate of increase among California's postsecondary sectors. The average annual rate of increase was 2.3 percent during this period, and never exceeded 3 percent in any particular year. (See Table 1.)
Over the same years, income available to pay these rising charges has been stagnant for many lower- and middle-income students and families. Adjusted for inflation, both median household income and disposable personal income of California residents decreased slightly from 1990-91 to 1995-96. (See Table 1 and Figure 2.)
Statewide, student aid totaled $4.6 billion in 1995-96, up 70 percent since 1990-91 after adjusting for inflation. More than two-thirds of this increase, however, was in the form of federally sponsored student and parent borrowing, an increasing share of which is unsubsidized. (See Tables 2/2a and Figure 3.)
California's federal loan volume-Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL), Ford Direct Student Loans (FDSL), Perkins, and other loan programs-doubled between 1990-91 and 1995-96, from $1.3 billion to $2.6 billion in constant dollars. Federal and state grant assistance, on the other hand, grew less than 30 percent during the same years, and declined as a share of total aid from 28 to 21 percent. (See Table 2a and Figure 4.)

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