In this issue brief, Rita Kirshstein, director of AIR's Delta Cost Project, discusses college tuition hikes and affordability concerns over the past several decades. She addresses four specific points that highlight why these concerns affect more students today than ever:

• Tuition has indeed far outpaced inflation.
• Family income has not kept pace with tuition increases.
• A college degree is more necessary today than ever before.
• College students are coming from much more diverse backgrounds.

The Delta Cost Project provides data and tools to help higher education administrators and policymakers improve college affordability by controlling institutional costs and increasing productivity. The work is animated by the belief that college costs can be contained without sacrificing access or educational quality through better use of data to inform strategic decision making.