today typical college costs including tuition and fees room and board and allowances for books and supplies transportation and other personal expenses range from 27330 for public instate university students to 55800 for private nonprofit college students when scholarships and grants are taken into account average net costs for tuition and fees at these kinds of schools are closer to 2640 and 14990 respectively though the pandemic and recent increases in higher education funding may have slowed the speed of rising college costs a recent report from georgetown university highlights the growth in the gap between how much young workers make and how much they must pay to earn a college degree over the past several decades the report titled if not now when the urgent need for an allonesystem approach to youth policy breaks down seven trends that have made it difficult for workers to transition from education to the workforce since 1980  postsecondary education policy has failed to keep higher education affordable even as formal education beyond high school has become more essential reads the report today two out of three jobs require postsecondary education and training while three out of four jobs in the 1970s required a high school diploma or less yet while young people today need more education than ever to compete in the labor market a college education is more expensive than in the past according to the researchers analysis of us census bureau of labor statistics and national center for education statistics data for the years 1980 to 2019 college costs have increased by 169 over the past four decades while earnings for workers between the ages of 22 and 27 have increased by just 19 included on page 13 of the report is a graph that captures this gulf