Giving Compass' Take:

• EdSurge reports on how some colleges and universities are trying to address rising costs by freezing or eliminating tuitions, with help from philanthropic fundraising to cover the losses.

• Is this really a sustainable model? What are some other options to address high tuitions? Another aspect discussed is more robust online learning as a lower-cost alternative.

• Here's why work colleges may become a low-cost, high-value option in the future.

Classic economic theory predicts that when demand falls, so do prices. But when it comes to the price of college in the past few decades, it’s been just the other way around.

As data from the National Student Clearinghouse Center shows, tuition has escalated even as enrollments fell.

The dispiriting result is that half of all low-income high school graduates, cowed by sticker shock, don’t even bother to fill-out applications to go to college. A report by the American Council on Education concludes: "The rapid price increases in recent years, especially in the public college sector, may have led many students — particularly low-income students — to think that college is out of reach financially.

Responding to the challenge, a few universities are finally reversing course or slowing tuition increases, either stepping on the breaks or tossing-out tuition altogether. One of the most dramatic examples comes from NYU’s Medical School which recently ended its $55,000 yearly tuition, at a cost to the school of about $24 million annually ...

Luckily, some of the discounts are real — and promising. St. John's University, with campuses in Santa Fe, N.M. and Annapolis, Md., is cutting tuition from $52,000 to $35,000, rending a deep gash in the college’s finances. To make up for the loss, the university plans to generate $300 million in a fund-raising campaign.

Read the full article about how philanthropy can help address rising tuitions by Robert Ubell at EdSurge.