WASHINGTON - With the average price of college continuing to rise considerably faster than inflation or per capita income, Americans are increasingly concerned that soaring tuition costs and onerous loans will prevent qualified students from pursuing a college education, according to participants in a public forum yesterday presented by Public Agenda, the nonprofit, nonpartisan opinion research and citizen engagement organization, and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education at George Washington University.

The forum highlighted research from the recent Public Agenda/National Center report, Squeeze Play: How Parents and the Public Look at Higher Education Today, showing that the percentage of Americans who believe that many young people are unable to attend college because of cost has risen sharply from 47 percent in 2000 to 62 percent in 2007. The study also found that 75 percent think that it should be a very high priority to make more grants and tax breaks available to students. Although Americans have come to value higher education more than ever, fears about affordability and access leave many parents and students deeply troubled.

We are on the verge of a huge crisis in our country because access to college is essentially the only chance to have a high quality of living and good income, William E. Kirwan, Chancellor of University System of Maryland, said. If we don't do more in our country to provide access to higher education, we will create a two-tiered society and the opportunity for upward mobility will be eliminated for too many people.

College costs as a share of household income have doubled for all but the wealthiest Americans since 1980, with the cost of a four-year private university rising to 123% of average income for the poorest fifth of the population and to 34% for the middle fifth, according to the College Board. Average student debt has more than doubled to $20,000 in a decade. While financial aid has increased, public funding as a share of costs has fallen, as we now have the lowest state investment per student adjusted for inflation in the history of our country, Kirwan said. At the same time, college participation rates have not risen in 15 years, and the United States lags behind nine other developed countries in college participation, Pat Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, said.

This is not the America of equal opportunity for all, Ruth A. Wooden, president of Public Agenda, said. Rapidly rising college costs not only affect students, families, and institutions of higher education, but it also affects the U.S. economy and American competitiveness. If millions of talented students cannot get a college education, or choose their majors and professions based on the need to pay back college debt, our country will not have the most talented scientists, scholars, managers, and leaders.

The combination of slow income growth and growing social inequality; the lack of constraints on college costs; and the perceived need for a college education squeeze tens of millions of families, according to Callan, Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, and John Immerwahr, senior research fellow at Public Agenda. Most Americans say that you have to have higher education to be successful, but more and more say that college is less and less accessible, Immerwahr said. Callan also noted the breakdown of the social compact of the 1950s to 1970s in which state governments provided affordable higher education for the middle class and the federal government provided aid for lower-income Americans.

Bobby Allyn Smith, an American University sophomore who is putting himself through school, said that a financial adviser told him he should not consider attending a private university because of monetary constraints: She told me flat out it would be a rash decision for me to do anything but a community college, based on my financial situation. Even with all the grants I'm getting, I'm taking $80,000 in debt. I'm maxed out.

Parents are confused and afraid, James Boyle, president of College Parents of America, said. And George Mason University student Steven Scott said that students are upset about the idea of a university as a business, thinking about the bottom line.

Experts said that a new social compact to provide affordable education would have to involve a multi-pronged approach, with greater government aid, college productivity gains, and family budgeting. Panelists argued for a greater financial role for the public sector and for colleges to work to restrain costs, but most were wary of government regulation.

George Washington University Steven Knapp, who said that his institution is increasing student aid faster than tuition, said that, rising costs are shifting the burden to families, but the answer is not government support and cost control.

The fragmentation of higher education makes it hard, Callan said. It's going to take leadership from the federal government, which has been a minor player, and from the states, and from higher education. It's a rebalancing of the social contract. No solution is just public revenues, family budgeting, or college productivity gains. But, what's missing are the political champions.

Presented in association with The Public Affairs Project at The George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs, Does it Really Have to Cost So Much? A Forum on the Soaring Costs of Higher Education, was broadcast live on C-SPAN and moderated by GW Professor Frank Sesno.

The report and information about the event are available at: http://www.publicagenda.org/reports/squeeze-play

Video and a transcript from the forum will be posted to the site as soon as they are available.

The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, www.highereducation.org, is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes public policies that enhance Americans' opportunities to pursue and achieve high-quality education and training beyond high school.

The Center for Innovative Media (CIM) at The George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs is comprised of The Documentary Center and The Public Affairs Project. For more information about GW's School of Media and Public Affairs, visit www.gwu.edu/~smpa. For more news about GW, visit the GW News Center at www.gwnewscenter.org.