Ever wonder why few schools post the new tuition rates during the selection process?
Public schools will not know rates, because tuition is generally set by the spring/ summer legislature.
Schools that are need aware, even if they meet 100% need, could have an idea how much they will need to charge for tuition if they limit how many needy students they accept.
Which school are you wondering about? Schools publish past increases, so it’s fairly easy to extrapolate expected increases.
Many colleges will post an estimated cost of attendance for the upcoming school year, which is usually on their financial aid website. It will include a best guess of tuition, fees, housing and food costs, even if they have not been finalized.
Just watch out, because some majors have extra tuition (particularly in later years) and some upper class or off-campus housing may be much more expensive than freshman housing. If you are willing to cook yourself and if you will have your own kitchen, you may be able to save money vs. a meal plan as an upper classman.
There can be some unexpected increases. For example, four public universities in PA. (Clarion, Bloomsburg, Millersville and Indiana) are charging undergrads 20 to 25% more than they charged last year if they take a regular course-load of 15 credits. If the student tries to take an extra class (for a total of 18 credits) in a semester, within a year or two, they will pay up to 50% more than they paid last year.
Some public universities have had dramatic increases in out of state tuition rates.
Ack, I just went to D’s college website to see how much it will be increasing next year, and noticed that the exact same scholarship she received will be granted for $1000.00 more for the incoming class of Freshman. No fair 
It’s not like our tuition won’t be the same as theirs.
@movemetoo That is a good reason to make sure that merit scholarships have automatic adjustment for tuition increases and weigh that as a factor in selecting one’s college. A $30K merit award that covers tuition freshman year but does not go up as tuition rises the next 3 years can be a difficult situation for some families. In my example, a 5% tuition increase each year will result in over $5K in additional out of pocket expense. If the tuition increase is greater the out of pocket will also be greater.
Also, families should find out if scholarship recipients receive waivers or is covered by merit award to allow taking more credits than the standard. As Charliesch stated above the additional cost can be prohibitive.
I agree it is important to know if the scholarships will increase with the prices of tuition, but I don’t think you can ‘make sure.’ It’s often a take it or leave it deal. Do consider the increases when deciding between schools if the offers are a flat amount or a percentage of tuition.
Some costs do go down after the first year. My daughter’s meal plan for sophomores is $2000 less than freshman year and she can pick a cheaper dorm option.
My D is attending a need met school. We are hoping the grant will increase with tuition accordingly.
I just got the increase email today. Last year they padded her merit $$$$ with other scholarships to bring it up to current rates. One more year.
Wouldn’t you be able to tell by whether the multi-year scholarship amount is defined as $X, or “full tuition”, “half tuition”, “the value of full tuition”, etc.?