Nariman Farvardin, President, Stevens Institute of Technology writes: A recent Star-Ledger article projecting future costs of higher education illuminates some important trends in the escalation of tuition costs vs. median household income for New Jersey. What it fails to present, however, is that the net tuition rates that students actually pay — that is, tuition and fees minus scholarships and federal and state grants — can be significantly lower than the advertised cost of tuition and fees. The article states, “The data only takes into account the sticker price of tuition and fees, and does not take things like average scholarships or the cost of books and room and board into account.”