“Colleges and universities that participate in federal student aid programs have been required to publish a net price calculator (NPC) since 2011. These calculators provide institution-specific estimates of what students are likely to pay, based on family income, assets, and other information…

Since 2019, research teams I organized have collected net prices using these calculators for a consistent sample of four-year colleges and universities. Institutions are grouped into private nonprofit and public sectors. Private institutions are further separated into those with larger and smaller endowments per student, while public institutions are divided between state flagship or research-intensive (‘R1’) campuses and more regionally focused institutions. 

From each category, 50 institutions were randomly selected, yielding a total sample of 200 colleges and universities. The 50 private, well-endowed institutions have been further subdivided to distinguish between those with endowments exceeding $500,000 per full-time equivalent (FTE) student from those with endowments between $100,000 and $500,000 per FTE. Among the selected institutions, 15 are in the former group and 35 are in the latter. Universities in this category with more than 3,000 tuition-paying students are subject to the significantly increased endowment tax introduced as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, enacted last summer. 

At each institution, NPC estimates were generated for students from four hypothetical families with different financial circumstances. Income and asset levels correspond to the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles of the distribution for families with children approaching college age observed in the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, updated for inflation over time. These income levels correspond to approximately $45,000, $85,000, $140,000, and $250,000 in today’s dollars. In addition to reporting net prices for each scenario, the analysis also presents the full published cost of attendance (the ‘sticker price’), which continues to receive outsized attention even though few students pay that amount. 

Tables 1A–E and Figures 1A–1E present the results for each category of institution. Net prices for all income groups are lower in 2025–26 than they were six years earlier, and the full cost of attendance has declined as well. That is, sticker prices have not kept pace with inflation. While there are some minor year-to-year differences across income groups, the overall patterns are clear. For students at the 25th percentile of the income distribution (incomes below about $45,000) prices have fallen almost continuously and are now roughly 15–30% lower than in 2019–20.”

From Brookings.

“Since 2000, sub‑Saharan Africa has more than doubled primary enrolment and more than tripled secondary enrolment; in low‑income countries, secondary enrolment has almost quadrupled. Over the same period, the school‑age population fell by 9% in upper‑middle‑ and high‑income countries, rose by 25% in lower‑middle‑income countries and doubled in low‑income countries…

Since 2000, the completion rate has increased from 77% to 88% in primary education (92% if very late completers are considered), from 60% to 78% in lower secondary education (82% with very late completers) and from 37% to 61% in in upper secondary education (64.5% with very late completers). In other words, the upper secondary completion rate has grown by 0.8 percentage points per year since 2000. Looking at historical rates of progress, the world would achieve 95% upper secondary completion by 2105 in the average scenario, by 2081 in the fast expansion scenario (at the 75th percentile), and by 2062 in the fastest expansion scenario (average of top 25%)…

Between 2000–04 and 2020–24, repetition rates fell by two thirds in primary and by 40% in lower secondary education. As systems expanded and quality declined, repetition rose and slowed progress, but over time students improved their progression.”

From UNESCO.

“An educational programme for young girls in northern Nigeria that involved local religious leaders massively reduced the number of child marriages, a study reported in Nature today has found…

In the first year of the programme, out-of-school girls were offered accelerated learning in reading, mathematics, life skills and business skills in ‘safe spaces’ dedicated to them. In the second year, the emphasis was on ensuring that the girls return to school. Parents were helped with the costs of school fees and uniforms, and girls continued to have access to tutoring and mentoring in the safe spaces, which were like after-school clubs. Those who did not return to school were offered vocational training to work in local shops.

What is new about this approach is that the researchers tested its effectiveness in a randomized control trial. The researchers enrolled 1,181 adolescent girls from 18 communities in the states of Borno, Kaduna and Kano who were both out of school and unmarried at the start of the programme. The communities were divided into nine pairs: one community of each pair participated in the programme while the other did not. The involvement of local leaders helped the programme to recruit almost all of the girls that met the inclusion criteria in each community, Abubakar says.

The trial took place between 2018 and 2020, and participants were surveyed at the beginning and at the end of the programme. By the final survey, 79% of the girls participating in the programme were still unmarried, versus about 14% in the group that did not participate. This corresponds to an 80% decrease in the likelihood of marriage during the study period, the researchers say.”

From Nature.

“A government study has found that access to education, housing and nutritious food has improved nationwide…

81.4% of the population had access to education in 2024 and the use of basic supplies for studying at home — electricity, television, internet — reached 70.2% of students between 3 and 17 years old. This represented an increase of 33.5 percentage points compared to 2016.

92.1% of Mexico’s population reported access to decent housing without a lack of quality and space, while 85.9% had access to basic services in 2024. On the other hand, access to water within the home fell to 53.4% in 2024, as compared to 54.8% in 2016…

85.6% of the population did not experience a lack of access to nutritious and quality food in 2024, compared to 78.1% in 2016…

The percentage of people without deficiencies in access to health care services decreased from 84.4% in 2016 to 65.8% in 2024.”

From Mexico News Daily.