The fee for tuition, room, and board at Suwanee in 2015 was $49,750. In 2016 it will be $54,500, about a ten percent increase in one year. In 2011, Suwanee lowered its comprehensive fee by 10 percent. What is going on?
I would guess it’s due to the four year price guarantee. Where other schools might raise prices in a more gradual step-like fashion Sewanee has to have the jump at the beginning to cover the four years.
So the kid who starts at full pay in 2016 will pay about $20,000 more over the four years than the kid who started in 2015, i.e. one year before.
The 2011 reduction was an attempt to get away from a high tuition - high discount model. When they lowered the cost, they also lowered scholarship awards. Perhaps they discovered that the model doesn’t work and students are lured by more merit money. I noticed on Sewanee’s website that they have also increased the amounts of the various merit awards.
Of course it could be any number of things: rising costs, desire to expand student services or facilities, increase in faculty pay/retention, poor performing market last year leading to less endowment income.
To review: in 2011 tuition,fees, room, and board were $41,500. For 2016 tuition, fees, room, and board will be $54,500. So there has been a $13,000 increase in 5 years, a period when the government tells us inflation has been quite low. It seems to me these price increases will likely just scare off a lot of people in the middle(where inflation-adjusted incomes have been stable or declining for many years) – in other words middle income people might not even consider the school. As a result the student body will skew increasingly to the children of the truly affluent and the children from low-income backgrounds.
What exactly is your point? That’s the way it is at a good number of LACs; and it is a business model that seems to work for them.
If you are looking for a school that doesn’t employ that model, here is an article from 2014 that identifies schools which have more economic diversity than others: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/09/upshot/top-colleges-that-enroll-rich-middle-class-and-poor.html?abt=0002&abg=1&_r=1
Or you can look at schools that don’t offer merit aid at all.
@gandalf78
The immediate point was wondering if the ten percent increase in one year would dissuade middle income people from considering the school. The business model seems to have changed – 5 years before it was to drop tuition by 10 percent.
The larger point , as summarized in the most recommended reader’s comment for the article you referenced, is that Sewanee might be moving toward a student body without middle income kids, i.e. with a bimodal distribution .
Even with the jump in COA for 2016-17, the fees are comparable to those charged at Sewanee’s peer institutions, especially when one considers that price is locked for 4 years. With a corresponding adjustment in merit aid, and generally good financial aid, I doubt it will have much impact on the economic diversity at the school - at least not any more than commonly exists at private LACs in this age of high college costs.
@Marigrow I’m not sure how many “middle income” people are going to be driven away by the tuition going from $50,000 to $55,000. There are few “middle income” people who can afford to pay either amount.
I suspect what Sewanee is learning is that top students are being courted heavily by lots of schools through generous merit aid offers. Many might be giving up a tuition-free education at a school like Alabama or Ole Miss to go to Sewanee. So why shouldn’t the very top students get a discount (through merit aid) while the more average students pay more?
@EarlVanDorn
If Sewanee is charging more to provide more merit aid it seems fair to me. Top students should get a discount ,
and average students should pay more – a good introduction to how life works.
My understanding is that they are getting significantly more applications now, particularly from places like Northern Virginia. It may be that there are more full pay applications than there were five years ago.
They are also building at least one new dorm to accomodate all those new students, and are also working towards increasing the size of the school overall from 1800 to more like 2100.
Cost of 5 schools D was accepted to: Union College $62,274; Hobart & Wm Smith $62,260; Denison $58,860; College of Wooster $55,600, all current year; Sewanee $54,500 next year. Merit scholarship at Sewanee was somewhat less than the other schools, but with the price guarantee it about evens out.
D’s freshman year at Sewanee has been wonderful. It is an amazing school in a very unique environment. She has been very, very happy with her choice.
My junior son got a phone call and some mail from Sewanee recently. It’s once of those places that I’ve always thought had a bit of “magic.” But my son is going to have a number of no-tuition options available, and we’re going to bank on those while applying for some competitive merit scholarships. I don’t think Sewanee offers any full merit scholarships, unless someone wants to correct me.
@EarlVanDorn, for the 2016-17 year there are 4 full ride scholarships available: 2 Benedict scholarships and 2 Vice-Chancellor scholarships. I think the latter are new.
Other threads here at CC in the last couple of years indicate that Sewanee gives some of the lowest merit awards. By increasing tuition $5,000 next year and providing lower merit awards it seems the middle and upper middle class students will be picking up more of the tab for the lower-income students.
@marigrow I got a 50,000$ merit aid award which isn’t low at all…
Again, when you take it account that their COA is still less than many of their peer institutions and the 4 year price lock, I don’t see much, if any, difference in costs relative to peer institutions. Unfortunately, they are all expensive for families who don’t qualify for aid. Of course, individual results may vary among schools depending on the student and how much a particular school wants that student.
I think a shrinking upper middle class is an issue at all but the most generous of private colleges. Even awards in the 20-30K range leave a lot of money to be paid when COAs range from 54-65K. But I applaud the efforts of those schools who are trying to make college affordable to lower income students. Everything is a trade-off when resources are limited.