<p>One of the schools I applied to has increased tuition by about $8,000 this year. I think that's a lot of money, all at once. Do you think that doing something like this will decrease the number of applicants or doesn't it really matter. The tuition is now in line with other very selective schools, so it's not uncommon to pay $40,000 a year. Still comes as a surprise.</p>
<p>Yes, it's a lot. What school is that?</p>
<p>I think it's the University of Richmond, because I'm applying there too.</p>
<p>My dad was pretty ticked when he heard about it, because we have a high EFC and many of my other schools already had tuition at $40K. UR was a little cheaper. Not anymore!</p>
<p>They gave some BS reason for doing it, too - like that it would put them more in line with other selective schools (I think they cited several Ivies as an example. ???) and create a more competitive applicant pool. I think there's other ways to go about it than raising tuition that much, especially in ONE YEAR!</p>
<p>Yes, it's Richmond. It is now in line with the other schools up north, such as BC,Villanova, BU and just about every other school I looked at. My dad was pretty surprised too. We were thinking that Richmond was a bargain, since it's just as good, if not better than all these other schools and much, much prettier. It's my first choice, I love the school. I hope I get accepted.</p>
<p>Juba-what's an EFC?</p>
<p>EFC = Expected Family Contribution, how much money your family can afford to contribute to your tuition every year. At schools that meet 100% of need (like Richmond), they determine how much financial aid to give you by subtracting EFC from total tuition costs. :)</p>
<p>Good luck! I'm applying, too, but I don't think it's my first choice.</p>
<p>Fwiw, when I was massaging data to put together TheDad's rankings...an exercise in how silly any of them are...Richmond was the one school that popped up in the middle of my list of 40-50 top schools that I had never heard anything about. I read up on it and it seems like a decent school...I still wonder why I've never heard of it.</p>
<p>Thedad, I would like to see your rankings. Why don't you post them?
When a school raises tuition that much, it should somehow lessen the blow for students already at the school. I don't think there are very many families that are expecting that kind of increase.
I hope my kid's school doesn't come up with that kind of increase.</p>
<p>I think when some people look at schools they look at the tuition to measure the quality of the school. If it is cheaper then they seem to have problems attracting students so they have the price as an advantage, but if it is more expensive then it looks like it's such a good school that they can have the tuition at any price they want and still attract kids. Again: not my thought process, I am just trying to analyze potential-applicants thought process.</p>
<p>Dstark, it was a mostly silly set of rankings though it had a "real" enough methodology. One of the rules was "If Harvard is not #1, move Harvard to #1 or else you won't have any credibility." And I moved one school down several notches simply because the intensity of the alcohol-fueled social scene annoys me...and since they're my rankings, I can do that. </p>
<p>The one truly interesting thing about my rankings is that there were only 17 schools that scored above an arbitrary minimum in all three of my [non-disclosed] categories whereas schools 18-50 included all three categories but didn't require the the threshhold in all three. Suffice to say that academics, selectivity, and aspects of student/campus life all played a part in the rankings.</p>
<p>You know...it was silly...but it might be worthwhile to take half an hour with a spreadsheet and do it sometime. Bug me in the Parents Forum next week...this week is looking like a bear.</p>
<p>is every school in the UofR category and up going to have a 40,000 price tag? I'm not liking this at all. 8,000 is no small amount of money.</p>
<p>I don't know about "every school" but the spread of cost was about $2,000 among every school my D was looking at. Very depressing.</p>
<p>they either need to get larger endowments/better fin. aid packages or decrease cost.</p>
<p>does anyone know the exact percent increase that is? is that higher than the national average?</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.universities.com/Schools/U/University_Of_Richmond.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.universities.com/Schools/U/University_Of_Richmond.asp</a></p>
<p>Tuition was $24,940
Room and board was $5,160</p>
<p>So if the $8,000 was a tuition increase, it would be around a 33% increase.</p>
<p>And yes, that is way higher than the national average.</p>
<p>wow thanks for the info schwaby :p</p>
<p>No problem. And whoever is going/will be going to Richmond....</p>
<p>Ouch.</p>
<p>I was considering applying there next year since it was slightly cheaper than some others of equal value, but I would rather apply somewhere more well known if I'm going to be paying the exact same price</p>
<p>My daughter, with our encouragement, dropped Richmond from her list when we got that letter. We felt like they were looking in the wrong direction when assessing their peer group, although since then I've been told Wake Forest is almost as expensive.
Some of their traditional support may be drying up as well - tobacco money and the Robins family (Robitussin). Still a lovely school good for someone interested in liberal arts and business. It was a merit money school for her, and she didn't like it well enough to go when it would cost lots extra than say Rhodes.</p>
<p>does the increase only apply to incoming freshmen, or will students already attending suddenly have to pay more/find more aid?</p>