Don’t let the sticker price fool you. This tool shows what students really pay for college, based on their family income. We’ve got trends, too. Search from more than 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States.

• Poorer families are bearing the brunt of college price hikes, data show
• How some families pay less for college than others
• College, federal financial aid increasingly benefits the rich
• Colleges that pledged to help poor families have been doing the opposite, new figures show
• http://tuitiontracker.org/

Comments from the Judges:

“Outstanding, far-ranging analysis on highly important issue revealed a trend that is disturbing. Lots of strong quotes from experts — my favorite: ‘affirmative action for the rich.’ The Tuition Tracker was concise and clean. This was an effort worthy of any of the best national publications, in a general-circulation regional newspaper, thanks in no small part to collaboration with education-focused groups.”

“Very good data visualization. And excellent story about a very important issue in higher education – the rising cost of college for low income students.”