Even for someone that graduated from a pretty expensive college within the past decade, these current tuition, room and board prices are just mind-blowing. Though it imposed its smallest percentage increase in the past 35 years, the cost of Agnes Scott College is now nearly $40k.
Seriously, many colleges are $10,000 more than they were just 8-10 years ago! Can these high costs possibly survive in today’s credit stagnation or will colleges eventually feel the crunch too?
That reminds me…I gotta pay my student loans…
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Erm, please note the following:
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
ATLANTA - Acknowledging the economic downturn’s potential impact on finances for students and families, the Agnes Scott College Board of Trustees has approved the smallest percentage increase in tuition and fees in 35 years.
The overall increase in tuition, mandatory fees and room and board for the 2009-2010 academic year is 2.69 percent, which is approximately half the rate of inflation.
The board also approved a plan to launch several new financial aid initiatives aimed at attracting talented students to the college, including “The Agnes Solution,” a program guaranteeing $64,200 in merit aid over four years to students eligible for a Georgia HOPE scholarship.
“Agnes Scott College’s newly announced affordability measures powerfully demonstrate private higher education’s commitment to staying financially within reach to students and families from all backgrounds during this historic economic downturn,” said David L. Warren, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and an Agnes Scott trustee. “I applaud Agnes Scott for taking decisive and innovative steps to help consumers hit hard by the economy.” (click here for more)
Oh, and I should have added that we are already feeling the crunch. We did not receive pay raises this year (every employee got $500) and we have a freeze on hiring. And please note that what we charge for tuition is about half of what it costs to educate each student. Our financial aid packages are extremely generous.
–ASC alum and employee *wink*
I’m not saying this is solely Agnes Scott’s problem CSD Mom, the whole tuition cost thing is a nationwide problem. Its suffocating students within months of graduation.
And I applaud the school’s smallest percentage increase in 35 years (though the higher the total price the smaller the percentage increase needs to be), but how much has it increased in the past 10 years?
Again, this is by no means just Agnes Scott’s issue, but the announcement, which included the total cost got me thinking about whether colleges will be able to charge these rates to students who in the past have been able to pay them only with the help of loans. If those loans begin to get a little more scarce, what happens to college rates?
Plus the added value of its’ proximity to a Dairy Queen. For a Blizzard addict like me that alone would entice me to conside ASC!
Well, I’ll give you that when I started as an undergrad in 1991 it was $16K, and when I left in ‘96 it was $20K per year. So tuition has effectively doubled since a decade ago. It is quite disturbing to think about how my own kids will get through college. And ASC’s enrollment is definitely down this year.
It costs roughly $80,000 per student per year to give them a liberal arts education? Really? I would love to see the backup for that. It seems damn near impossible.
Yeah I was wondering that too CSD Mom (though with a bit less disbelief than my friend DEM). Can you give any sort of general breakdown?
All….how can everyone forget that one of the platforms that Obama ran on is that everyone should have a college education?
Please, he is gonna get the government to bankroll all this…..don’t worry about it!
The College Board web site maintains several tables of pricing trends as well as offering commentary and lots of other info. http://www.collegeboard.com/html/costs/pricing/index.html
CSDMom was overstating things a little. Our wonderful President Kiss has often said that it costs about ~$55,000 a year to educate each and everyone one of us. Still, don’t hold that figure up to close scrutiny. No one has ever stated how it was calculated.
$55,000 or $80,000 - or somewhere in between. Tuition doesn’t cover the full cost of your education at ASC or any other college.
Maybe Rosser calculated it.
The college can’t educate an individual without also paying salaries/benefits, facilities costs, etc. etc. I am assuming that explains the statement that we hear a lot around here, and that is lifted for your benefit from the press release that I linked to earlier:
Agnes Scott’s stated tuition covers about half the actual cost of educating a student at the college. The difference between tuition and the college’s expenses is funded by income from the endowment and gifts to the college.
Of course salaries have to be paid, etc. The question is whether averaging all those costs over every student really comes out to something like $80,000. Think of it this way, could I hire a competent Phd to tutor me for a few hours per day for 9 months, rent myself a class room, and buy a year’s worth of books for 80 grand? Yes, very easily. I’ll bet I could do it for less than 40 grand.
dem,
Yes, you could do that. But you wouldn’t end up with an ASC education, which is PRICELESS!
Also, the broad figure of “tuition” includes room & board, health insurance, student actives fee and meal plans.
Private Colleges and the Economic Downturn
By Allen Grove, About.com Guide to College Admissions
Saturday November 22, 2008
The general feeling among many families struggling financially is that public universities and two-year colleges are the only affordable options available to them. This logic isn’t always sound. For one, tuition at public colleges and universities is likely to increase significantly as states struggle with massive budget deficits. Mid-year tuition hikes are even possible this winter.
Also, private colleges and universities, because they are private, often have more flexibility than state schools when it comes to dealing with financial crisis. Where the state’s response is often to raise tuition, private colleges may do just the opposite to attract new students–minimize tuition increases and offer competitive financial aid. Agnes Scott, for example, increased its total cost by just 2.69% for 2009-10, the smallest increase in 35 years and a number that is about half the rate of inflation. Many colleges such as Middlebury and Williams are postponing construction projects, and a great number of schools are scaling back on filling vacancies. The general idea is to cut costs, not squeeze more money out of students.
To see how dozens of top private colleges and universities are responding to the economic downturn, check out this compilation of articles put together by NAICU, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.