College price hikes appear to be moderating

WASHINGTON — There's some good news on college tuition. Yes, the cost has gone up — but not as much in the past.

For in-state students at a four-year public college or university, published tuition and fees increased this year on average $247 to $8,893. That's a 2.9 percent increase — the smallest one-year increase in more than 30 years, the College Board said Wednesday in its annual report on college prices.

Out-of-state prices, as well as the costs to attend public two-year colleges and private institutions rose but they also avoided big spikes, said Sandy Baum, co-author of the report. These more moderate increases could lessen concern that an annual rapid growth is tuition prices in the new normal.

"It does seem that the spiral is moderating. Not turning around, not ending, but moderating," Baum said.

The average published cost for tuition and fees at a private college for the 2013-14 academic year was $30,094 — up $1,105. An out-of-state student at a public college or university faced an annual average price tag of $22,203, which is up $670. The average price tag for an in-state student to attend a two-year institution was much less at $3,264 — up $110.

Most students don't actually pay that, though. There are grants, tax credits and deductions that help ease the cost of going to college. About two-thirds of full-time students get grants, most from the federal government.

But, in the two years leading up to the 2012-2013 school year, the federal aid per full-time equivalent undergraduate student declined 9 percent, or about $325.

That means students have to foot more of the bill themselves.

"The rapid increases in college prices have slowed, however, student and families are paying more because grant aid is not keeping up," said David Coleman, president of the College Board.

While the average published price for tuition and fees for a private college is $30,094, the net price is $12,460 — up $530 from last year. The net price is what they actually pay after grants. There were years this decade that saw the net price going down, but it has gone up the last two years.

The average published in-state price for tuition and fees at a public four-year school is $8,893, but the average net price is about $3,120.

Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education, in a statement called it "troubling" that overall grant aid is not keeping up with prices. Her organization represents the presidents of U.S. colleges and universities.

"Institutions are committed to holding down costs, but it is equally important for state and federal governments to play their part to make college affordable," she said.

The College Board is a not-for-profit membership group that promotes college access and owns the SAT exam.

The report spells out the large declines in state appropriations given to public institutions in recent years. These cuts have been blamed for rises in college costs. Other causes often cited range from the high cost of health care for employees to the demand by students for flashier campus amenities.

Among the other findings in the report:

— Adding in costs for room and board to live on campus, average annual published costs: At public, four-year universities, $18,391 for in-state students and $31,701 for out-of-state students; $40,917 for private colleges and universities; $10,730 for in-state students at public two year schools.

— The average published tuition and fees at for-profit institutions increased by $70 to $15,130 — an increase of less than 1 percent.

— New Hampshire and Vermont had the highest published in-state tuition and fees at both four-year and two-year institutions. Wyoming and Alaska had the lowest published in-state tuition and fees at a four-year institution, while California and New Mexico had the lowest in-state among two-year schools.

— In 2012-2013, $238.5 billion in financial aid was issued to undergraduate and graduate students in the forms of grants from all sources, Federal Work-Study, federal loans and federal tax credits and deductions. Also, students borrowed about $8.8 billion from private, state and institutional sources.

— About 60 percent of students who earned bachelor's degrees in 2011-2012 graduated with debt, borrowing a total of $26,500 on average.

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Online: http://www.collegeboard.org/

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Follow Kimberly Hefling at http://www.twitter.com/khefling

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At a glance: New Apple product specs

Apple Inc. unveiled a pair of new iPads and new MacBook Pro computers, among other products, at an event in San Francisco on Tuesday. Here are some product specifications:

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IPAD AIR

SIZE: 9.4 inches tall, 6.6 inches wide and 0.29 inch thick

WEIGHT: 1 pound

DISPLAY: 9.7 inches diagonally

RESOLUTION: 2,048 pixels by 1,536 pixels, at 264 pixels per inch

CHIP: A7 chip with 64-bit architecture and M7 motion coprocessor

COLORS: Black with space gray, white with silver

PRICE: $499 for a Wi-Fi-only 16 gigabyte model, $599 for 32 GB, $699 for 64 GB and $799 for 128 GB. Add $130 for models with 4G LTE cellular access. Apple will still sell the 2011 model, iPad 2, for $399.

AVAILIBILITY: Nov. 1

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IPAD MINI

SIZE: 7.87 inches tall, 5.3 inches wide, 0.29 inch thick

WEIGHT: 0.73 pound

DISPLAY: 7.9 inches diagonally

RESOLUTION: 2,048 pixels by 1,536 pixels, at 326 pixels per inch

CHIP: A7 chip with 64-bit architecture and M7 motion coprocessor

COLORS: Black with space gray, white with silver

PRICE: $399 for a Wi-Fi-only 16 gigabyte model, $499 for 32 GB, $599 for 64 GB and $699 for 128 GB. Add $130 for models with 4G LTE cellular access. Apple will sell last year's model, without the sharper display, for $299, down from $329.

AVAILABILITY: November

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MACBOOK PRO - 13 INCH

SIZE: 0.71 inch thick, (when closed), 12.35 inches wide and 8.62 inches deep

WEIGHT: 3.46 pounds

DISPLAY: 13.3-inches diagonally

RESOLUTION: 2,560 pixels by 1,600 pixels, at 227 pixels per inch

CAMERA: 720p FaceTime HD Camera

BATTERY: Up to 9 hours wireless web, or 30 days standby

PRICE: Starts at $1,299 for model with 128 gigabytes of solid-state memory, 2.4 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

AVAILIBILITY: Tuesday

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MACBOOK PRO - 15 INCH

SIZE: 0.71 inch thick, (when closed), 14.13 inches wide and 9.73 inches deep

WEIGHT: 4.46 pounds

DISPLAY: 15.4 inches diagonally

RESOLUTION: 2,880 pixels by 1,800 pixels, at 220 pixels per inch

CAMERA: 720p FaceTime HD Camera

BATTERY: Up to 8 hours wireless web, or 30 days standby

PRICE: Starts at $1,999 for model with 256 gigabytes of solid-state memory, 2.0 GHz dual-core Intel Core i7

AVAILIBILITY: Tuesday

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OTHER PRODUCTS:

— MAC PRO: A high-end desktop computer in a cylinder casing and assembled in Austin, Texas. Available in December for a starting price of $2,999.

— MAVERICKS. The latest version of the Mac operating system. Unlike previous updates, Apple is releasing it for free. It promises better battery life, improved file management and new apps such as a Mac version of Maps.

— IWORK. Apple is refreshing its suite of word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software. Apple is offering it for free with new Mac and iOS devices. Once you buy the new device, you can install the app in older devices you own. Each of the three apps normally costs $20 for the Mac and $10 for iPhones and iPads.

— ILIFE. Apple also is refreshing its iPhoto and iMovie editing software and the GarageBand app for creating music. New features are available for both Mac and iOS devices. It's also free with new Mac and iOS devices.

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EBay expands same-day delivery to more cities

NEW YORK — EBay is expanding its same-day delivery service to more locations and letting buyers and sellers create "collections" of products available on its site as it moves beyond its roots as an online auctioneer.

EBay Inc. said Tuesday that it is expanding eBay Now to 25 markets by the end of 2014. The service is live now in Chicago and will go to Dallas later this year and to London in early 2014.

To help advance the service, which promises delivery in as little as an hour, eBay says it has bought courier service startup Shutl for an undisclosed sum.

EBay's "collections" are groups of products available on the site, as selected by celebrities, bloggers, regular eBay users or stores themselves. People can follow the collections, their curators or other users. The company is also taking a page from social networks and will let both buyers and sellers create profiles for themselves on the site.

EBay has been working on shedding its auction-site image, and says that more than three-quarters of what it sells is new merchandise, sold not to the highest bidder over several days but to buyers paying immediately.

Shares of eBay slid 11 cents to close at $51.83.

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Judge to decide home for Philly newspapers feud

PHILADELPHIA — Two business tycoons involved in an owners' feud over The Philadelphia Inquirer turned out Tuesday for the first court hearing in the case, while rival co-owner and powerful New Jersey Democrat George Norcross was a no-show.

The dispute nominally involves this month's ouster of Pulitzer Prize-winning editor Bill Marimow.

But the suit and countersuit reveal a deeper split between Norcross and co-owners H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest and Lewis Katz just 18 months into their joint venture. Katz, Lenfest and Marimow were in court Tuesday; Norcross sent his attorneys.

Norcross made his money in insurance and Lenfest in cable television, while Katz has a parking lot fortune and also owned the New Jersey Nets. The three are the most prominent local leaders among the six men who threw together about $55 million to buy the Inquirer and its sister paper, the tabloid Philadelphia Daily News, from hedge fund owners last year.

A Philadelphia judge set an Oct. 28 hearing on whether the case belongs in her courthouse, where Lenfest and Katz filed suit, or in Delaware, where Norcross countersued.

Lenfest and Katz want the judge to block Marimow's firing and show Publisher Robert Hall — who fired Marimow — the door. Without explanation, a gaggle of dark-suited lawyers met with Judge Patricia McInerney for about 30 minutes behind closed doors, before she took the bench to announce the next court date.

"That's what happens in Philly. They come out and put it on the record and everybody goes home," Katz said to his son, Drew.

As the parties prepare for high-pitched litigation, newsroom employees work for their fifth owners in seven years, and endure unpaid furloughs, more staff cuts and endless uncertainty. Marimow's lawyer called the Inquirer his client's "life mission" and stressed its role as a government watchdog.

"It's very important to the citizens of Philadelphia that they have a paper that maintains and doesn't move away from that and toward the private and political and business interests of certain owners," lawyer Bill Chadwick said afterward.

Lawyers for the Katz and Norcross factions declined comment, as did Lenfest.

A few current or retired staffers attended the hearing, including Dan Biddle, a Pulitzer Prize winner who was among five veteran editors that Hall wanted fired, according to newsroom employees who asked not to be named because of a directive not to talk to outside press. Marimow refused to fire them.

Both Norcross and Katz have insiders in the newsroom, and appear to have competing visions for the enterprise. Each accuses the other in their lawsuits of interfering with the news product, despite pledges to the contrary.

Norcross' daughter, Lexie, came aboard last year at age 25 and led the company's move from its iconic headquarters to shared space in a former department store. She now runs the Philly.com website, a free portal that, to the chagrin of some reporters, competes with each newspaper's fee-based website and offers much of the same content.

Katz's longtime companion is Inquirer city editor Nancy Phillips, a veteran investigative reporter and Marimow ally who congratulated the newsroom in a recent tweet for compiling a hard-hitting Sunday edition despite "the stress of a challenging week" — a week capped by Norcross' countersuit.

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Futures fall as US rally runs out of steam

NEW YORK — The investor zeal that flourished in the wake of the partial government shutdown and an extended rally for U.S. markets appear to be coming to a close amid a mixed bag of corporate earnings.

Dow Jones industrial futures are down 66 points to 15,332. S&P futures have lost 8.7 points to 1,740.70. Nasdaq futures are down 19 points to 3,557.50.

Global markets fell as well on Wednesday.

Caterpillar's quarterly earnings plunged 44 percent and the company cut its outlook again Wednesday for the year.

However, plane maker Boeing and WellPoint, the nation's second-largest health insurer, both topped Wall Street expectations.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq is under pressure after some big players in the sector trimmed their outlooks late Tuesday, including semiconductor companies Cree and Broadcom.

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NY comptroller: Wall Street profits may slow

ALBANY, N.Y. — Though Wall Street recorded $10.1 billion in profits for the first half of 2013, New York's comptroller said Tuesday that federal budget dithering, higher interest rates and litigation may slow earnings for the last half in a securities industry that has kept trimming jobs.

In a report, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli projected that overall earnings have been limited to $15 billion this year, compared with $23.9 billion last year.

"The political gridlock in Washington may take a bite out of the security industry's profits for the fourth quarter," DiNapoli said. "Washington's inability to resolve budget and fiscal issues is bad for business."

The 16-day partial federal government shutdown ended last week, but a possible repeat may be on the horizon. Lawmakers approved a budget that keeps the lights on through Jan. 15 and lets the Treasury Department continue to pay its bills through Feb. 7.

A standoff between President Barack Obama and a group of Republicans over spending for the budget year beginning Oct. 1 and possible defunding of the nation's health care overhaul led to the shutdown. Lawmakers also pushed the country to the edge of economic default by threatening the Treasury Department's authority to continue borrowing the money needed to pay the nation's bills.

The annual comptroller's report said there were 163,400 total jobs on Wall Street in August, down from 168,700 a year earlier. However, New York's financial sector still had 2.5 times more jobs than No. 2 California and they pay an average $360,700 salary, or about five times more than the rest of New York City's private sector.

DiNapoli predicted the industry will continue to streamline in adapting to changing regulatory and economic circumstances.

The report noted that unlike previous economic recoveries in New York City, the current rebound is driven by other industries that have added 335,000 jobs, more than double the total lost in the recession, with an average salary of $69,200.

The securities industry remained one of the city's main economic engines, last year accounting for 5.1 percent of its jobs but nearly 22 percent of all private sector wages.

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Rubio offers bill to delay health care law penalty

WASHINGTON — Sen. Marco Rubio says he'll introduce legislation to delay the penalty that can be assessed on individuals who don't buy insurance under the government's new health care law.

The Florida Republican says people should not be punished for not buying the insurance when major technical problems have plagued the online sign-up process. Uninsured Americans have until about mid-February to sign up for coverage if they are to meet the law's requirement that they be insured by the end of March. If they don't, they will face a penalty.

Rubio said on "CBS This Morning" show Tuesday that he still believes the health care law itself should be repealed.

President Barack Obama on Monday acknowledged technical problems that he described as "kinks in the system."

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US employers add 148K jobs; rate falls to 7.2 pct.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy added just 148,000 jobs in September, suggesting that employers held back on hiring before a 16-day partial government shutdown began Oct. 1.

Still, hiring last month was enough to lower the unemployment rate. The Labor Department said Tuesday that the rate fell to 7.2 percent from 7.3 percent in August. Unemployment remains historically high but is near a five-year low and is down from 7.9 percent at the start of 2013.

Tuesday's release of the September jobs report had been delayed 2½ weeks by the shutdown, which likely further depressed economic growth and hiring. Temporary layoffs of federal workers and government contractors will probably lower October's job gain.

Many economists say they won't have a clear reading on hiring and unemployment until the November jobs report is issued in early December.

The economy has added an average of 143,000 jobs a month from July through September, weaker than the 182,000 added from April through June.

The department revised its estimates of job growth in July and August to show a net gain of 9,000 jobs. It said employers added 193,000 jobs in August, more than the 169,000 previously estimated. But it said just 89,000 were added in July, the fewest in more than a year and below the previously estimated 104,000.

"We continue to create just enough jobs to lower the unemployment rate," Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist for BTIG, an institutional brokerage.

Stock futures rose after the report was released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. The weaker job figures make it more likely that the Federal Reserve will maintain its level of bond purchases for the rest of this year. The bond purchases are intended to lower long-term interest rates and boost borrowing and spending.

High unemployment has discouraged many Americans from looking for work. The percentage of Americans working or looking for work remained at a 35-year low in September.

There were some positive aspects in the September jobs report. Several higher-paying industries added jobs at a healthy pace. Construction firms gained 20,000 positions. Government boosted payrolls by 22,000. Transportation and warehousing gained 23,400 jobs.

And average hourly pay ticked up 3 cents to $24.09. In the past year, hourly pay has increased 2.1 percent, ahead of the 1.5 percent inflation rate.

The deceleration in job growth was a key reason the Fed decided in September to hold off on slowing its $85-billion-a-month in bond purchases. Many economists think the lack of clean data will lead the Fed to put off any decision on the bond purchases until 2014.

Many economists say the shutdown cut $25 billion out of the economy and slowed growth to about a 2 percent annual rate in the October-December quarter. That's down from estimates before the shutdown that the economy would expand at a 2.5 percent annual rate.

But growth will likely be a bit higher in the first three months of next year, as consumers and businesses make purchases and investments that were delayed during the shutdown.

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Mass. college students face rising debt

BOSTON — The state's higher education commissioner says more students at Massachusetts public universities and colleges are incurring larger amounts of debt to finance their educations, a trend that could have dire consequences for the region's economy.

The Boston Globe reports that Commissioner Richard Freeland told lawmakers Monday that the risk of incurring high debt could dissuade some people from attending college at a time when the state more graduates in science, high technology, and health care to compete in a global economy.

He says the average debt for graduates of the University of Massachusetts system, other state universities, and community colleges increased 27 percent from the 2008 fiscal year through 2011, the last year for which data are available.

Freeland says the state needs to boost funding for higher education.

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Ahead of the Bell: Netflix

NEW YORK — Netflix shares soared 9 percent before Tuesday's opening bell after it added 1.3 million U.S. subscribers during its most recent quarter.

The online movie service has been notching new all-time highs since early August and is on pace to do that again Tuesday, if premarket gains hold.

Netflix has altered the media landscape and is reportedly in talks with cable operators to expand access to more viewers, even as more households "cut the cord," and dump cable television all together.

The $8-per-month membership fee is tailor-made for uncertain economic times and the company has been aggressive in expanding what it offers to customers, including original programming like "House of Cards," a political thriller starring Kevin Spacey, Kate Mara and robin Wright.

It seems the only thing dividing industry watchers about prospects for the company is the meteoric rise of its share price.

The stock has more than quadrupled this year as original programming and expanded service draws new adherents. The stock price in August surpassed heights reached two years ago, before a poorly handled change in service sent shares plunging to a 20-month low.

Tony Wible of Janney Capital Markets backed his "Buy" rating, pointing to the steady growth of subscribers.

But Jefferies analyst Brian Fitzgerald stuck by his "Underperform" rating, saying that it's tough to justify the company's current stock price given that its content costs are rising.

The company's profit of 52 cents per share beat Wall Street predictions of 48 cents, while revenue rose 22 percent to match predictions of $1.1 billion. Netflix also said it expects to add another 2.5 million to 4.1 million subscribers worldwide in the current quarter ending in December.

In premarket trading, Netflix shares jumped $31.31 to $386.30.

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