The average four-year degree, at a public institution, costs $5,836 this year, according to CollegeBoard, a national, nonprofit organization that looks at the costs of colleges. The cost for a UA student is only $3,835 a year.

The cost of a two-year degree however is a bit more at a UA school. The average tuition at a community college for a two-year degree is $2,272 annually; this puts the two-year degree at UA on the higher end of the national spectrum at $3,825 a year.

“If you compare us to other community colleges, we are high. If you compare us to universities, we’re low,” said Dennis Clark, director of the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Mat-Su College.

At one point, Alaska did have a community college system held separate from the UA system, but in the 1980’s, the larger UA network absorbed those colleges. Prince William Sound and Kodiak, two of the former community colleges, offer reduced tuition rates, according to Kate Ripley, a university system spokeswoman.

About 20 percent of UA students are on an associate-degree track, Ripley said.

Outside community colleges are structured differently than UA, making it easier for them to keep tuition down. Many of them are subsidized by the cities where they are located. This isn’t possible in Alaska, where they are situated in very small communities, Ripley said.

Alaska students get more for the higher tuition, with access to resources that may not be available at community colleges elsewhere, Ripley said. And the community campuses allow people to pursue degrees close to home.