On October 13–14, the Hildreth Institute joined higher education leaders, researchers, policymakers, and advocates in Washington, D.C., for the Lumina Foundation's College Affordability Convening. The gathering brought together diverse perspectives to examine the challenges students face in paying for college and explore opportunities to make higher education more affordable, transparent, and responsive to student needs.
As part of the convening, Hildreth Institute's Deputy Director of Strategy and Partnerships, Hiba Agha, participated in a panel titled “What Students See,” alongside Anika Van Eaton of uAspire and Reid Higginson of CARA. The discussion explored how students encounter, interpret, and use information about college costs and financial aid as they make decisions about their educational futures.
Looking Beyond Tuition
College affordability is often discussed in terms of tuition and financial aid. Yet students must navigate a much broader set of expenses, including housing, food, transportation, and other necessities, while also making sense of information that can vary across institutions and sources.
Improving college affordability requires more than expanding financial resources. It also means ensuring students have access to clear, reliable, and actionable information about the full cost of pursuing a degree.
The panel brought together complementary perspectives on how college costs are communicated, where students turn for information, and the challenges of translating complex financial information into meaningful guidance.
These conversations underscore the importance of examining not only what students are expected to pay, but also how institutions and policymakers define, estimate, and communicate those costs.
Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice
For the Hildreth Institute, the convening offered an opportunity to contribute to a broader national dialogue that closely aligns with our ongoing work on college affordability.
Through our Cost of Attendance Transparency Project, we have spent the past year examining how colleges estimate students' living expenses, how those estimates vary across institutions, and what greater consistency and transparency could mean for students, financial aid, and higher education policy.
The project reflects a broader commitment to connecting research with the experiences of students and practitioners and identifying opportunities to strengthen the policies and systems that shape college affordability.
We are grateful to the Lumina Foundation, particularly Katie Berger and Julie Peller, for bringing together such a thoughtful group of voices and fostering important conversations about how the field can advance a more student-centered approach to college affordability.
On October 20, the Hildreth Institute will release the first year of findings from its Cost of Attendance Transparency Project, including a national research series and interactive dashboard.
Learn more about the Cost of Attendance Transparency Project