Historically, public colleges were more affordable than private nonprofit colleges no matter a student’s wealth, as states subsidized these institutions and kept tuition rates down.
However, public institutions’ funding streams have changed, notes the NBER paper, which was written by Emily Cook, economics professor at Tulane University, in New Orleans, and Sarah Turner, economics professor at the University of Virginia. The paper has been peer reviewed and is forthcoming in the journal Economics of Education Review, according to Turner.
