$2,474 Average federal Pell grant
$15,100 Average price before aid for one year of full-time undergraduate education at a public four-year institution in 2003-04 (includes tuition and fees, books and supplies and other living expenses)
18 million
Projected number of two-year and four-year college students, part-time and full-time, for the 2007-08 school year in U.S.
$17,089
Average debt upon completing four years of college in Illinois
$77.5 billion
Amount states are slated to increase spending on higher education in 2008, up 7.5 percent from last year
31
Number of American universities seeking to raise at least $1 billion in endowments
SOURCES: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, Crain’s Chicago Business, staff reporting
TRIBUNE GRAPHIC / Katie Hamilton and Chad Yoder
