Here’s an incredible statistic. Last year, the cost of a year in college — public college — rose to fifty-five percent of the median family income of families in the bottom 20% of earnings in the US.

You read that right. For the average family in the bottom 20% of American households, sending just one family member to college will eat up more than half of your total family income for the year.

But financial aid will help with that, right? Wrong. That figure is for net cost, after financial aid has been factored in.

After inflation, tuition and fees at American colleges and universities have risen 439% in the last twenty-five years, and students from lower-income families now receive less aid per student than their wealthier counterparts.

These numbers come from a new a report on college costs from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. As the president of the Center told the Times, these numbers are feeding a growing educational gap between the US and other countries we’re competing against in the global economy. “Already, we’re one of the few countries where 25- to 34-year-olds are less educated than older workers,” he says, and the situation is likely to grow worse in years to come.

The full report is online here.