#tuition costs

Pssst: America’s private colleges have an idea to stop, and even reverse, their big annual increases in tuition. They say it would help ensure financial aid goes to the students who need it most.

All they want is for you to trust them.

(Photo: Butch Dill/AP)

However, the issue is more complicated than that. The federal government bans consultation about prices and discounts among competitors in any industry. Meaning that schools can’t talk to each other about tuition costs, but here they say, is where the issue is.

That’s because of a self-destructive cycle in which they vie for students by offering bigger and bigger discounts they can’t afford — including to families that may not need them. This pushes up the sticker price for everybody else, shifts money away from students who need it most and threatens the survival of the smallest and most heavily tuition-dependent private schools.

If they could talk to each other, leaders of these private colleges say, they could rein in those discounts.

Check out the rest of their plan:Colleges say they could lower tuition — if only they could talk to each other about it