Data analysis by Fred Broschart. Interactive development and design by Grace Donnelly and Ashlyn Still.
State-wide data shows that college tuition in Georgia has risen as family income has fallen — and as the majority of public universities are now collecting more from tuition and fees than from state funding, according to one analysis.
The rising cost of attendance is coming from somewhere, and it isn't the extra money from a raise: The US General Accounting Office found that increased tuition costs were often covered by increasing student debt.
In Georgia, college tuition costs have followed a national trend by increasing faster than the rate of inflation.
Adjusted for inflation, the average 4-year public university tuition bill in Georgia increased 51 percent between 2004 and 2013, according to an analysis of figures published by the College Board. There are many reasons for increasing tuition costs, including falling state funding and burgeoning student populations.
In that same time, the state's median family income in constant 2013 dollars decreased six percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.