The price of college keeps climbing, and families are taking notice.

College Costs Jump 10%, Putting More Pressure on Families

Families spent an average of $34,019 on college during the 2025-26 academic year, a 10% increase from the previous year, according to a Sallie Mae and Ipsos report. Families covered nearly half of those costs through their own income and savings, while scholarships and grants covered 27% and borrowing accounted for 22%. Perhaps most concerning for enrollment leaders, 79% of families said they eliminated colleges from consideration at some point because of price. With new federal student loan limits on the horizon, affordability is likely to play an even larger role in where and whether students enroll.

Key Takeaway: Affordability is increasingly an enrollment issue, making it critical for institutions to clearly communicate value, financial aid options and return on investment.

Tulsa Community College Reinvents Orientation & Sees Retention Rise

Tulsa Community College redesigned an enrollment process that once required incoming students to navigate roughly 15 separate steps, creating a more streamlined and engaging orientation experience. Students can now resolve issues involving financial aid, registration, testing and other requirements in one place, with the goal of leaving orientation ready for the semester. The broader effort also included more advisors and improved early alerts for struggling students. Fall-to-fall retention increased from 55.9% in 2021-22 to 63.1% in 2024-25, while enrollment also grew.

Quick Insight: Orientation can be much more than a welcome event. When colleges use it to remove administrative barriers, build belonging and prepare students to start successfully, it can become an important retention strategy.

Elite Colleges Are Bringing Back the SAT and ACT

All eight Ivy League institutions have now either reinstated standardized testing requirements or announced plans to do so, joining institutions such as MIT and Johns Hopkins. However, that does not mean the test-optional movement is disappearing. More than 2,000 bachelor's-degree-granting institutions remain test optional or test free, and research continues to produce competing conclusions about the value and equity implications of standardized testing. Some institutions, including the University of Vermont, have used their own student success data to support remaining test optional.

Key Insight: Rather than simply following highly selective institutions, colleges should examine their own data to determine whether standardized tests improve admissions decisions and predict student success.

University of Michigan Tests a New Approach to First-Year Grades

The University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts is piloting a "grade covering" approach for first-year students beginning this fall. During their first semester, students will see courses designated as pass or no credit, with neither appearing on transcripts nor affecting GPAs, although the university will retain actual grades for advising and other internal purposes. University leaders hope the policy will reduce academic pressure, support mental health and encourage students to take intellectual risks. The move also raises a larger question for faculty and administrators about how institutions can balance academic rigor, resilience and student well-being.

Takeaway: Michigan's experiment could reignite a broader conversation about whether traditional grading practices help or hinder first-year student learning, exploration and well-being. 

Rethink Your Orientation

Orientation can do more than welcome students. Go2Orientation helps colleges create customizable, trackable online orientation experiences that engage students and support a successful start. Explore resources at Innovative Educators.

Published: August 14, 2026