Associated Press

Though the average costs of higher education are rising nationwide, the good news for students is that most do not pay full price. On average, thousands of dollars per student in grant aid and tax benefits are given out each year.

WASHINGTON -- Tuition and fees for public four-year colleges are now $7,020 on average and for private colleges $26,273, the College Board reported Tuesday, with prices rising faster in the public sector.

Colleges and universities have not slashed sticker prices in response to the economic downturn. On the contrary, tuition and fees rose 6.5 percent at public four-year colleges compared with the 2008-09 school year and 4.4 percent at private, nonprofit, four-year institutions. Those were steeper rates of increase than in prior years, after adjusting for inflation. Over the past decade, annual increases have averaged 4.9 percent at public colleges and 2.6 percent at private colleges.

The good news for students is that most do not pay full price. Students at private colleges received $14,400 in grant aid and tax benefits this year, on average, leaving about $11,900 in tuition and fees to be paid out of pocket. Public students reaped about $5,400 in grant aid, on average, leaving a net cost of about $1,600.

Tuition at state supported colleges and universities in Virginia rose an average of 5.2 percent for the 2009-10 academic year, according to a 2009 State Council on Higher Education for Virginia report.

That was the lowest average increase since 2002, the report stated.

In April, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors raised in-state undergraduate tuition and fees by 5 percent to $8,605. Out-of-state undergrads saw a 5.1 percent increase to $21,878.

Percentage increases were larger at Radford University, where in-state undergrad tuition and fees rose 5.6 percent to $6,904. Out of state tuition and fees rose 6.5 percent to $14,060. Radford remains one of Virginia's least expensive four-year residential universities.

But three consecutive years of state funding cuts for higher education have put the traditional affordability of Virginia colleges and universities at risk, the report concluded.

Virginia Tech President Charles Steger announced last month in an e-mail to the Tech community that officials will likely be forced to raise tuition again to offset 15 percent state funding cuts announced last month by Gov. Tim Kaine.

Kaine cut funding to all state supported colleges and universities by up to 15 percent to help offset a $1.35 billion revenue shortfall. A temporary infusion of federal stimulus money will cushion the immediate blow, but staffing cuts and tuition increases could come early next year.

The entire higher education sector has taken a beating in the recession: Private nonprofit institutions have seen their endowments wither and aid requests swell; public colleges and universities have sustained reductions of 10 percent to 30 percent in state funding.

In this climate, higher tuition "comes as no surprise," said Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education, an association of higher education institutions based in Washington. As state budgets continue to shrink, she said, "my concern is that we may soon face a period where significant tuition increases may be necessary to counterbalance the current fiscal instability."

Staff writer Tonia Moxley contributed to this report.