NORMAL, Ill. – Sharp tuition increases are forcing more lower-income students to trade their dream colleges for less expensive universities or community colleges, or are keeping some out of school entirely, according to a study released Monday.

The nearly two-year study by Illinois State University’s Center for the Study of Education Policy recommends that states bolster student financial aid programs to counter rising costs that officials also say are squeezing middle-income families.

“We have a lot of bright young students that cannot afford to go to college and it’s a benefit to the state to produce productive taxpayers,” said Ross Hodel, director of the education research center.

Funded through a $300,000 grant from the Lumina Foundation for Education, the study examined how student access to college was affected by tuition costs that jumped after states trimmed college funding during four recessions dating to the early 1980s.

The study found that 44 of 50 states cut spending for colleges since the last recession in 2001, but only 15 boosted financial aid to offset the tuition increases that followed.

As a result, about half of states say high costs are keeping more lower-income students out of their first-choice college, the study found. Students are turning from high-priced private colleges to more affordable private and public schools, or from public universities to community colleges.

“Community colleges are certainly one way of accessing an affordable college education if you live in a state like Illinois where we have a very strong community college system,” Hodel said. “We visited states that have almost no community college system.”

Illinois is among just seven states where financial aid programs have come close to keeping pace with rising tuition over the last quarter-century, according to the study. The others are Arizona, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas and Washington.

The study says those states all have clearly defined plans that make access to college a priority, and recommends that other states follow their lead to keep higher education within reach of lower-income students.

“This center is going to perform a huge function in providing a checklist for states. … There will be another recession, so how do we handle it and be wiser about doing it?” said Deborah Curtis, dean of ISU’s college of education.