For all undergraduates, the average tuition discount rate in 2020-21 ticked up to 48.1 percent, a 2.2-percentage-point increase from the year prior, according to the study. During the 2019-20 academic year, the average discount rate for all undergraduates fell slightly from the year before, from 46 percent to 45.9 percent.
This year, NACUBO’s annual tuition discounting study is based on survey responses from business officers at 361 nonprofit colleges and universities across the country. The study defines the tuition discount rate for first-time undergraduates as the total institutional grant aid awarded to first-time, full-time undergraduates as a percentage of the gross tuition revenue an institution would collect if all students paid the sticker price. The formula for all undergraduates is similar.