Peach Tree Times

Statistics show the average annual rate of college tuition inflation is 8%, with the cost of public U.S. universities nearly tripling since 1980. In Georgia, the cost of college for both in- and out-of-state students has risen nearly 2% in just the last year as of January 2022, the Education Data Initiative reports.

According to the report, the cost for out-of-state tuition and fees climbed 1.83% during the same timeframe while the cost for room and board jumped a combined 10.37% in the last year.

During the 2021-22 academic year, the average annual cost of tuition and fees at a public four-year college was $10,740 for in-state students and $27,560 for out-of-state students. The average annual rate of inflation from college tuition is currently 8%.

This comes as several experts told FOX Business recently Biden's loan forgiveness plan is expected to cause an incline in college tuition prices.

"Students will likely feel liberated to borrow more money on the assumption of future loan forgiveness, and universities will take advantage of the additional borrowing by raising tuition," Brian Riedl, a senior fellow in budget, tax and economic policy at the Manhattan Institute told FOX Business. "This is pretty similar to the fact that historically 60% of all student aid increases have been captured with tuition hikes, and this will be treated like an increase in student aid moving forward, which suggests that 60% will be countered by tuition hikes."

Biden’s plan, announced Aug. 24, states that for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year, he will cancel $10,000 of federal student loan debt. For borrowers who attended college on Pell Grants, awarded to students with exceptional financial need, Biden's forgiveness extends up to $20,000 in student loan debt. In addition, Biden has extended pandemic-era payment freezes through the end of this December.

National Center for Education Statistics data shows that from 1980-81 to 2020-21, the cost of attending a four-year college— including tuition and fees, plus room and board, and adjusted for inflation— has soared from $10,631 annually to $29,033 annually in the U.S., "representing a 173 percent increase in the last 40 years," according to Bankrate. 

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that Biden’s cancellation plan will cost between $330 and $390 billion and that his full student debt plan will cost $440 to $600 billion. The plan is said to be merely a short-term fix and while it will temporarily wipe out nearly a third of the student debt portfolio, "the sum of student debt will return to its current level in five and a half years, by 2028."

According to the Education Data Initiative, college tuition has increased 747.8% since 1963 after adjusting for currency inflation.