The College Board recently released a report that stated that cost of college continued to rise as the economy has faltered, putting an increasing strain on families to keep up.

For the current academic year, the average list price of tuition and fees at four-year public universities rose $394, or 6.4 percent, to $6,585 for in-state students. However, many students don’t pay the full list price. At four-year public universities, in-state students receive grants and tax breaks that lower that average to about $2,885.

At private colleges, prices rose $1,398, or 5.9 percent, to $25,143, according to the annual report. At private colleges, grants and tax breaks lower the average net price to about $14,900.

While some private colleges now exceed $50,000 when room and board are figured in, they are the exception. Overall, 56% of four-year college students attend institutions where the list price for tuition and fees is less than $9,000. But they’ve done so largely by tapping rapidly growing endowments. Now, like family savings, college endowments have suffered great losses on Wall Street, just as demand for financial aid rises.

Some colleges may try to hold down prices, but experts say that in most cases the pressure to charge more will be greater as endowments and alumni giving decrease. The College Board report emphasized that, accounting for overall inflation, prices rose less than 1 percent this year, and actually declined at public two-year colleges. But that’s only because overall inflation was unusually high, about 5.6 percent.

It is not clear if college access will be a greater challenge for the foreseeable future, especially for students in low-income, immigrant and minority groups. At the Improve Group, we have done extensive work in higher education access. What has become clear through our project work is that finding new solutions to help students access college will become imperative considering the current economic environment. The need for work in this area is particularly urgent since most evaluations are out of context relating to our changing economic environment.