Cost Of College 2014: Higher Education Prices Keep Increasing, But More Slowly Than In Past

College students may need to adjust their beer budgets: The cost of higher education has increased again, according to the College Board's 2014-2015 pricing report. Attending a public, four-year school costs more than three times as much as it did 30 years ago. At the same time, tuition was rising slowly and student borrowing was declining.

The College Board report, released Thursday, found tuition and fees averaged to $18,943 for in-state undergraduate students enrolled at a four-year school -- up 2.9 percent from the 2013-2014 school year. Students attending public colleges outside their home states paid an average of $32,762. It cost students nearly $10,000 more to enroll in a private but nonprofit four-year college. Costs at for-profit colleges increased by about $190, according to the annual report by the College Board, which sponsors the SAT exam.

The prices included room and board as well as a meal plan. Books and transportation costs weren't included, the Associated Press reported. Neither was grant money or tax credits.

The rise in prices could be attributed to the economy, which often leads to public colleges receiving less money from their states while private schools see fewer donations, Sandy Baum, the report's co-author, told the AP.

But the uptick wasn't as drastic as it may seem to students and their parents, Baum said. Colleges and universities were hiking their prices faster than the rate of inflation, CBS reported, making the rates of increase lower than in the past.

"The price increases are actually quite moderate this year, but still what people are paying, and this is before financial aid, is the accumulation of many years of price increases," Baum said. "So, if the price goes up just a little bit this year, people aren't really going to breathe a sigh of relief because the price is already high from their perspective."

Students have also been taking out fewer loans in smaller amounts. The average undergraduate took out $6,670 in loans this past year -- $320 less than in 2013-2014, the Los Angeles Times reported.