College kids celebrating. (Flickr Creative Commons/skuds)

The report addresses the widespread concern for affordable higher education, suggesting that the rapidly rising tuition rates of the past few years "did not signal a new era of accelerating prices."

"This does not mean that college is suddenly more affordable," warned co-author Sandy Baum.

The downswing in tuition is being moderated by the trending decrease in federal aid to higher education.

Looking back on the history of higher education in America, steadily climbing tuition prices had always been evened out by equally fast-growing federal grants.

In fact, federal grants rose by so much in 2009 that the net price for college-bound undergraduates actually decreased, despite steady annual tuition hikes.

In 2013, this golden era of federal aid has seemingly come to an end: the 2009 - 2011 125 percent increase in federal grant aid is now trickling to a halt, as funding dropped nine percent during 2011 - 2012, and dropped one percent further during the past year.

"The federal government is not going to continue to cushion the growth in tuition," said Baum, a research professor at George Washington University's Graduate School of Human Development. "We have no reason to believe that the federal government is going to stop helping students, but everyone would be surprised if they decided next year to increase aid dramatically again."

It is also important to note that the decline in annual college tuition increases does not signify a continued decrease in tuition rates.

"The (upward tuition) spiral is moderating. Not turning around, not ending, but moderating," said Baum.

According to the report, the slowing increases are indicative of the cyclical nature of college tuitions: "the startling price increases of recent years, coinciding with the Great Recession, paralleled increases in other economic downturns."

If the economy takes another nosedive, public four-year university rates are likely to start rapidly increasing again.

Meanwhile, published rates this fall at private four-year colleges are up to 3.8% - 30,094 USD - as compared to 8,893 USD for public universities.

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