Original analysis · Annual College Scorecard observations
How College Net Prices Changed, 2013–2023
A fixed-span comparison of operating colleges, using every available annual observation and a trend-quality threshold instead of ranking two isolated endpoints.
Compiled by PlainCollege, College outcomes data analysis
1,240
Comparable colleges
346
Fitted downward trends
894
Fitted upward trends
The result in one line
Celebrity School of Beauty has the steepest fitted decline at −$2,115 per year, while Southwest Institute of Healing Arts has the steepest fitted increase at +$4,139 per year.
According to the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard.
−$2,115/yr
Steepest fitted decline
+$4,139/yr
Steepest fitted increase
r² ≥ 0.40
Trend-quality floor
Nominal dollars; descriptive trends, not causal estimates.
The research question
Which colleges show the strongest sustained movement in average net price across a comparable 2013–2023 span? Average net price is cost of attendance minus federal, state, and institutional grants and scholarships for full-time, first-time undergraduate students who receive Title IV federal aid. It is an institutional average, not a price quote for a particular family.
How we measured it
We fit an ordinary least-squares line through each institution’s annual average-net-price observations. The comparison includes currently operating colleges with at least 500 enrolled students, positive values at both endpoints, at least eight observations, the same 2013–2023 span, and r² of at least 0.40. We rank by the fitted dollar slope per year. Using a fixed span makes the rows comparable; using the slope prevents a tiny starting value from dominating the ranking through an extreme percentage change.
The year labels are annual observations in the current College Scorecard data, not archived snapshots of separate publication releases. This report therefore measures changes through time within the current dataset. It does not claim to measure revisions between Scorecard releases.
The steepest sustained net-price declines
Absolute fitted dollars per year · fixed 2013–2023 span
decline per year
Celebrity School of Beauty
$2,115
Celebrity School of Beauty
$2,115 decline per year
100.0% of the leader · rank #1 · $19,763 to $4,857 · r² 0.61
Post University
$1,783
Post University
$1,783 decline per year
84.3% of the leader · rank #2 · $37,460 to $19,196 · r² 0.44
Auguste Escoffier School …
$1,695
Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts-Boulder
$1,695 decline per year
80.1% of the leader · rank #3 · $24,281 to $12,193 · r² 0.76
South College
$1,594
South College
$1,594 decline per year
75.4% of the leader · rank #4 · $28,696 to $17,182 · r² 0.87
Smith Chason College
$1,547
Smith Chason College
$1,547 decline per year
73.1% of the leader · rank #5 · $41,727 to $34,402 · r² 0.60
Johns Hopkins University
$1,459
Johns Hopkins University
$1,459 decline per year
69.0% of the leader · rank #6 · $26,596 to $18,161 · r² 0.53
Orange Technical College-…
$1,377
Orange Technical College-West Campus
$1,377 decline per year
65.1% of the leader · rank #7 · $19,671 to $10,256 · r² 0.80
University of Advancing T…
$1,237
University of Advancing Technology
$1,237 decline per year
58.5% of the leader · rank #8 · $29,999 to $20,913 · r² 0.63
Caldwell Community Colleg…
$1,215
Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute
$1,215 decline per year
57.4% of the leader · rank #9 · $17,983 to $5,517 · r² 0.66
Strayer University-Texas
$1,208
Strayer University-Texas
$1,208 decline per year
57.1% of the leader · rank #10 · $29,529 to $17,517 · r² 0.83
Asher College
$1,132
Asher College
$1,132 decline per year
53.5% of the leader · rank #11 · $18,940 to $16,924 · r² 0.44
Washington University in …
$1,113
Washington University in St Louis
$1,113 decline per year
52.6% of the leader · rank #12 · $33,484 to $22,117 · r² 0.86
Strayer University-Florida
$1,098
Strayer University-Florida
$1,098 decline per year
51.9% of the leader · rank #13 · $27,410 to $17,518 · r² 0.84
MDT College of Health Sci…
$1,085
MDT College of Health Sciences
$1,085 decline per year
51.3% of the leader · rank #14 · $36,461 to $27,375 · r² 0.42
Bethany College
$1,050
Bethany College
$1,050 decline per year
49.6% of the leader · rank #15 · $21,917 to $15,306 · r² 0.60
What this shows A decline means the fitted nominal average net price moved downward. It does not establish which policy, aid, enrollment, or reporting change produced that movement.
Absolute fitted dollars per year · fixed 2013–2023 span
increase per year
Southwest Institute of He…
$4,139
Southwest Institute of Healing Arts
$4,139 increase per year
100.0% of the leader · rank #1 · $32,286 to $58,490 · r² 0.69
Glendale Career College
$3,333
Glendale Career College
$3,333 increase per year
80.5% of the leader · rank #2 · $17,305 to $46,212 · r² 0.94
Howard University
$2,992
Howard University
$2,992 increase per year
72.3% of the leader · rank #3 · $22,823 to $47,919 · r² 0.87
Carrington College-Mesa
$2,958
Carrington College-Mesa
$2,958 increase per year
71.5% of the leader · rank #4 · $22,169 to $47,290 · r² 0.80
College of Health Care Pr…
$2,497
College of Health Care Professions
$2,497 increase per year
60.3% of the leader · rank #5 · $5,508 to $28,520 · r² 0.89
Carrington College-Sacram…
$2,482
Carrington College-Sacramento
$2,482 increase per year
60.0% of the leader · rank #6 · $16,838 to $37,143 · r² 0.84
Career Care Institute
$2,435
Career Care Institute
$2,435 increase per year
58.8% of the leader · rank #7 · $18,605 to $45,587 · r² 0.88
Yeshiva University
$2,372
Yeshiva University
$2,372 increase per year
57.3% of the leader · rank #8 · $23,352 to $47,560 · r² 0.90
Lincoln Technical Institu…
$2,223
Lincoln Technical Institute-Allentown
$2,223 increase per year
53.7% of the leader · rank #9 · $19,304 to $36,307 · r² 0.83
Carrington College-Reno
$2,209
Carrington College-Reno
$2,209 increase per year
53.4% of the leader · rank #10 · $29,434 to $47,705 · r² 0.71
National Polytechnic Coll…
$2,044
National Polytechnic College
$2,044 increase per year
49.4% of the leader · rank #11 · $7,955 to $31,626 · r² 0.68
Carrington College-Tucson
$1,981
Carrington College-Tucson
$1,981 increase per year
47.9% of the leader · rank #12 · $21,229 to $39,975 · r² 0.62
Brookline College-Albuque…
$1,981
Brookline College-Albuquerque
$1,981 increase per year
47.9% of the leader · rank #13 · $23,955 to $39,885 · r² 0.68
South Florida Institute o…
$1,947
South Florida Institute of Technology
$1,947 increase per year
47.0% of the leader · rank #14 · $7,789 to $29,731 · r² 0.62
Lincoln Technical Institu…
$1,864
Lincoln Technical Institute-Mahwah
$1,864 increase per year
45.0% of the leader · rank #15 · $12,750 to $29,211 · r² 0.89
What this shows These are nominal-dollar increases, so general price inflation is part of the movement. The analysis does not adjust the series into constant dollars.
A fitted slope summarizes the direction across all observed years. r² describes how much of the year-to-year variation is explained by that straight-line trend. The 0.40 floor removes the noisiest series, but it does not mean that every qualifying college changed smoothly or that its future price will continue along the same line.
Changes can reflect tuition, living costs, grant aid, the income mix of federal-aid recipients, program mix, institutional reporting, or several factors at once. This analysis does not isolate those causes. A lower average net price can be encouraging, but students should still compare their own aid offers, borrowing needs, completion prospects, and program outcomes.
Download and reproduce the data
Download the complete qualifying cohort as CSV. Each row includes the annual fitted slope, endpoints, endpoint change, number of observations, r², enrollment, state, and profile URL. The file uses the same cohort rules that power this report and both rankings.
Limitations
All dollar values are nominal and are not adjusted for inflation.
Average net price covers a defined federal-aid cohort and is not representative of every student.
The enrollment and operating-status filters describe the current institution record, while the price observations cover earlier years.
Linear fit is a compact summary; it can hide reversals within the period.
Observational movement cannot establish why a college’s average net price changed.
Sources
U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard institution-level data and documentation, available at collegescorecard.ed.gov/data. PlainCollege’s transformation and cohort rules are documented above and in the downloadable file.