Posted on 12/12/2006 5:53:29 AM PST by shrinkermd
Ursinus is not unique. With the race for rankings and choice students shaping college pricing, the University of Notre Dame, Bryn Mawr College, Rice University, the University of Richmond and Hendrix College, in Conway, Ark., are just a few that have sharply increased tuition to match colleges they consider their rivals, while also providing more financial assistance.
The recognition that families associate price with quality, and that a tuition rise, accompanied by discounts, can lure more applicants and revenue, has helped produce an economy in academe something like that in the health care system, with prices rising faster than inflation but with many consumers paying less than full price.
Average tuition at private, nonprofit four-year colleges — the price leaders — rose 81 percent from 1993 to 2004 , more than double the inflation rate, according to the College Board, while campus-based financial aid rose 135 percent.
The average cost of tuition, fees, room and board at those colleges is now $30,367. Many charge much more; at George Washington University, the sum is more than $49,000.
But aid is now so extensive that more than 73 percent of undergraduates attending private four-year institutions received it in the school year that ended in 2004, not even counting loans.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Kind of funny, isn't it. The socialist elite are robber barons.
Supply and demand.........
I have one at UT Austin and another one at UMHB Belton. I have first hand understanding of the tuition situation. :-(
Were private universities forced by the government to implement diversity programs?
This makes me think of the fellow who buys an $800 bottle of wine at dinner. It costs more, so it must be better- right? Nevermind that halfway into his surf n turf he likely won't be able to distinguish it from the Kendall-Jackson that goes for $14.99 at the liquor store. The real reason he spends that kind of money on wine is to show off to himself and everbody around him how rich he is.
It's the same with many of these colleges. Do the students at the University of Tennessee read a different Virgil than those at Sewannee? Does the fundamental theorem of calculus differ between Swarthmore and Penn State?
Yes, there is a difference in rigor of courses from a small unknown state school to a flagship state school.
I feel sorry for the kids that come out of college saddled with massive debt. Some of our friend's kids come out of school owing more than we paid for our first home.
We've managed a "tuition free" college education. Dual credit during high school earned an AA, tuition free. Merit scholarship offered by the state is paying full tuition and some $$$ for books, at the local state university, so "the kid" lives at home.
Plus doing it this way, he'll be finished with his bachelors when he's 19, so plenty of time for grad school. That's where we're planning on spending our education dollars.
Not so much anymore. Supposedly (from articles I've read) grade inflation is more rampant at the Ivy Leagues than at state U's because parents demand their kids pass, due to the high cost they're paying.
Yes, at the flagship schools you are usually taught by an overworked grad student.
At small schools you get taught directly by the professors.
Cheers!
I don't know about UMHB Belton, but UT Austin is an absolute steal of a deal if you're in-state.
No. To the libs that run these places, college is a place for young, open minded students to "find themselves while broadening their horizons". The goal is not to take the best and brightest and prepare them to land a top job, rather the goal is to create an environment and opportunity in which young people can learn about a very wide range of topics. Service projects, the semester abroad, etc are all part of this curriculum, often called the "liberal education". Having a campus that is diverse economically, racially, religiously, etc is an important feature of this curriculum. Just as West Point will pass over a candidate with excellent grades and test scores in favor of the one that is physically fit and has good leadership skills (also having good grades), so these places will pass over smart kids in favor of ones that improve the diverse climate they seek.
Yes, you are partially right. What you miss is that people hate taking advice of any kind. They say they do but watch their feet not their mouth.
Counselors soon learn this and endeavor to approach problems and advice in an oblique manner. They have an advantage, as you indicate, that people are paying for their advice but they give it in a different manner than that proverbial wise family member.
It's all so bogus. I went to a bourgeois university. Me, coming from a blue-collar family. It was interesting and sometimes difficult, but I have always valued my education. But from what I hear from those ivy-covered buildings, I would not allow my own daughter to go there today. In contrast, my husband teaches at a college that is anything but bourgeois. I take classes there and have to admit that the teaching is better than where I went. I also take some classes at the local community college and some of them, not all, are among the best I've ever had. The quality of the education depends mostly on the quality of the teachers and some of the better teachers have opted out of the self-branded prestigious schools and have headed to small, private schools where the emphasis is on teaching. It's a well-guarded secret.
In other words, expansion of liberal arts programs which requires more resources which requires more funding which requires higher tuitions.
Sad about Rice. It *was* known for its value. I couldn't attend today. I got in just after they started getting recognition but just before these increases. Oh well, good for me, I guess. Too bad for future Owls.
In my opinion, there is no bachelor's degree in the country that is worth spending $160,000 to get - regardless of the institution that grants it.
If you are intelligent, you get your Bachelor's for free at an institution that will grant you a scholarship...then after excelling on graduate school entrance exams, you get your advanced degrees from "name" schools.
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