A post on tuition: please read if you are seriously considering tufts

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tufts University
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hello, everyone.

first off, congrats to those who got in. i hope this following post helps your college decision process a little clearer.

yesterday, all of us got emails saying that tuition would be increased again. for me, this is the third time tuition has risen in my two years here at tufts: may 2016 (after i committed), last april (sophomore year), and yesterday (junior year).

it is no joke when people say tufts tuition is freakishly high. i believe we are one of the few institutions that have broken the 70K tuition mark ($70,941 for next year and i quote the email i got). and from my personal perspective, it hurts.

if you are offered significant financial aid to attend tufts, i would say consider it. depending on the amount of aid, tufts can be a great choice and have a good return on investment.

the majority of us pay full tuition here, so this is why i believe the administration is comfortable raising the tuition by 3.76% again. i would say tufts is a very hungry institution. when i say hungry, i mean that they are always trying to get the next best thing, to rise to the top. this past fall, they opened the Science and Engineering Complex, allowing the science majors to enjoy really really nice labs for class. they just installed a new power plant to reduce costs (over many years). they’re trying to improve building conditions, etc. (also just saying the adminsitrator’s salaries are hella high, higher than my professors, but that’s another thing altogether, and something that really annoys me. i wouldn’t be surprised if the admin’s salaries were raised as a result of this tuition increase)

in the email the admin sent us, they say they’re raising costs because

“Barnum/Dana are being renovated to create more classroom, art studio, and office space; improvements are being made to our residence halls, including Miller and Houston; and many of the wood frame houses designated for juniors and seniors will be completed by the beginning of next year. Work on our residential facilities will continue over the next several years, adding much-needed beds to the Medford/Somerville campus, which in turn supports our goal of having more undergraduate students living on campus”

quoted from the email i got yesterday

*barnum/dana is the old biology dept building. i can attest it was gross. there were rats. it was an old building.

*residence halls: about this: i consider there only to be two good halls on campus: sophia gordon (seniors only) and richardson. everything else is kinda ok. haskell, south/harleston/carm are apparently nice, but i’ve heard bush and lewis are really, really downright disgusting. so i do not understand who would pay 70,000 and live in a bad dorm.

*wood frame housing: i understand raising the tuition for this – right now, some students are working on an initiative to let more students live on campus. when you are a junior, tufts basically pushes you to live off campus, and rent is really high (700-900). hence, this project. i believe it was started to also help with housing costs for people who cannot afford to live off campus.

*the beds issue: last year, tufts enrolled way too many freshmen and converted many rooms to hold more students. so think doubles → triples, singles → doubles, etc. apparently they are still doing this, and honestly, some of the singles here are SMALL. one of my freshmen friends is living in a stratton single → double next fall and i don’t know how they will live there because it’s so small omg

okay, so enough about that. these are their explanations for raising tuition.

but is tufts really worth it?

if you are paying full tuition, and have better or comparable choices, i would highly advise to look elsewhere and ask the students over there if they feel the tuition is worth it for their majors. tufts tuition is only going to get higher and higher, and personally it really hurts for me. i feel a greater pressure to find a higher paying job after graduation as to not disappoint my parents, and whenever i get a non-A minus grade (aka every semester here so far), i feel immense guilt because for my intended career, GPA is a huge indicator of my future salary. but that’s just my own take on this.

if you are paying full tuition, and your parents say it’s nothing for them, and you really want to come here, then sure, come here.

yes, most of the teachers here are great. some departments are not as good as others. i have not heard great things about the economics department. the sciences (bio, chem, can’t speak for physics) seem to be pretty good and you will always encounter a couple of bad professors. (btw - if you are interested in seeing where graduates by major go: https://students.tufts.edu/career-center/explore-careers-and-majors/outcomes-major)

** SIDE NOTE: when they say they’re going to tufts medical school, make sure that the medical school is specified. the school of public health/physician assistant is under TUSM so i don’t want people thinking “wow so many get into the actual med school” etc etc

but i strongly believe that there are other colleges with similar academic experiences but with lower tuition. money-wise, one of my biggest regrets was coming to tufts: i do not know if i can secure a high paying job after grad to make these four years worth it. academically, this school is rigorous for me but your mileage may vary. but as you decide where to commit, realize that tufts will most likely raise tuition every single year, by approximately the same percentage.

that’s all i have to say on this. i also apologize if this post was rather incoherent as i’m typing this in between classes.

thanks for reading.

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by the way, i wrote this because when i matriculated, i did not know that tuition increasing was a normal thing here. so yeah. i don’t want incoming freshmen to feel like they’ve been blindsided or something

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http://admissions.tufts.edu/tuition-and-aid/tuition-and-aid/ Current Cost of Attendance is estimated to be 73.5k including personal expenses, with tuition at 55k. Room and board is separate from tuition.

That is a high cost of attendance. Unfortunately, many top private colleges have a similar cost of attendance. Very few private colleges have a significantly lower cost of attendance. If there is another college you would prefer that has a significantly lower cost of attendance, you are free to apply to transfer.

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hi @evergreen5,

i apologize if my post came off as highly negative. i am just putting my own opinion on tufts’ tuition and the future tuition increases/if it’s worth it or not, etc. i realize for some tufts is the best choice, and if that is the case, then this post really serves nothing. but for the people who are considering comparable colleges, i would really urge them to take a second look.

i see that they have also basically put the tuition projection for this year as last years, which confuses me. anyways, this is the breakdown for 18-19:

“Tufts University undergraduate tuition and fees for the 2018–19 school year will be $70,941, representing a 3.76 percent increase. Of this total, tuition will be $55,172. Fees include room, $7,934; board, $6,626; Health Service, $841 and an activity fee of $368. Books and personal expenses, which vary significantly by course of study and therefore are not included in this total, are projected to average $1,459.”

they usually overestimate the costs on the admissions page in my opinion. this calculator gives a much better estimate: https://webcenter2.studentservices.tufts.edu/TuitionCalculator/

if you put in freshman standing, standard double room, premium housing, tufts insurance, etc, it comes out to: $70,232.00 for the year. 17-18 this does not include personal travel etc. this will be higher next year given the tuition increase.

i am well aware that many top private colleges have a similar cost of attendance. many of my friends attend top private schools, but they have not had the tuition increases as frequently as tufts has. this was the main point i wanted prospective students to consider, because i came in thinking that there would only be one or two tuition raises for my four years here. by the time i graduate from tufts in 2020, tuition will theoretically be nearing the 73-74,000 mark. i do not want to think what it will be like by the time the class of 2022 graduates.

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@mylifeisgone195
This is typical of many private undergraduate institutions. Compare Tufts’ $70,941 to estimated costs of attendance at comparable Universities. Even though Tufts’ cost is rising towards the 73-74,000, some are already at the 73-74,000 mark or beyond.

Amherst:$75,916
USC: $75,275
WUSTL:$74,361
Georgetown:$74,320
Cornell: $72,754 ($54,818 tuition+$15,136 room/board+$2,800 books/supplies)
URochester:$72,554
Carnegie Mellon:$72,283
Wesleyan:$71,764 (upperclassmen)
Boston College:$70,143

This is not even a comprehensive list but as seen, Tufts is not the most expensive and if you want to go to a private, top tier university in general without financial aid, you will have to pay over 70k/yr. Plus, though popular opinion may be that Tufts aid is stingy, Tufts financial aid is some of the best out of all the Boston schools and in the country. In fact, it is one of the only few dozen schools in the country that meet 100% demonstrated need.

From personal experience, I got more aid last year from Tufts than what Northeastern and BU gave combined despite asking for more. Tufts also gave me more FA than BC, USC, and Emory, where I was also admitted and I’m now paying less than 1/3 of 70k/yr at Tufts.

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@Dawala282 as i stated in my original post, if tufts gives you really good financial aid, and you 10000% want to come here, then by all means do so. one of my friends turned down berkeley for tufts because tufts was cheaper to attend for him (fyi we are both california residents, so berkeley tuition is typically way cheaper). so yes, in terms of your situation and others on campus, tufts is a good investment.

to refute your point: yes, tufts is not THE most expensive mid-tier university in the US, but it is one of them. I did not state that Tufts was the most expensive: http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-most-expensive-colleges-in-2018-2018-2#7-tufts-university-1

this post was geared more towards students like myself who come from middle-income families who make enough to not qual for FA + pay full tuition, but at the same time consider rising tuition costs a burden as we cannot pay for an increasingly costly education. although some majors at tufts make the sticker price worth it (CS, for example), many of my peers here have expressed similar sentiments to mine (that tufts is not 100% worth it in some aspects and they should have gone to other private colleges)

i personally find the fact that the high tuition here puts more pressure on me to find an even higher paying job after graduation, and that might not be possible given my course of study. due to this tuition increase, and the realization that these increases are probably going to happen every year, i am thinking about leaving tufts and attending a community college so my parents won’t have to worry about my 70K tuition + my younger brother’s future bill (also roughly 70K, but for a better school, so in their eyes its more worth it). that being said, i am also considering leaving tufts because i know my ROI from this school won’t be high.

of course, those sentiments are also pretty much due to the major they are focusing on, so that is another aspect to consider as well.

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@Dawala282 Sorry, ignore the “tufts is the most expensive mid tier uni” thing that is irrelevant, and i misinterpreted your post

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I was lucky enough to get some financial aid. Do you know if the increase in tuition each year will make my Tufts grant bigger (ie will I still pay the same amount each year?)

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It sounds like your ROI isn’t going to be high not because you attended Tufts, but because your major won’t allow for a high ROI. According to Forbes, Tufts actually has the #13 highest ROI out of any college in the US. Since your major won’t allow for a high ROI, however, it sounds like transferring might be a good choice.

Personally, my family has a very high income, but I received very good financial aid.

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@Tufts2021, I am a Biology major. Typically, a science major should have a high ROI. I realize though that many of my Biology peers who are seniors end up doing jobs not related to biology, such as consulting, or end up working as lab technicians and research assistants, which do not have great pay. Yes, there are the Bio students who go to medical school and other health professions schools, but I am not planning on that. Honestly, I wish I transferred last year, but since I will be a rising junior, I might as well finish. My advisor and parents both suggested that so I am going through with it because many colleges do not take rising senior transfers (as I’d have to apply next year) and going back home to a community college and starting all over again would take me another 4+ years.

Personally I would not attend Tufts for Drama/Dance/Sociology/etc. Some of my friends are majoring in that.

In my opinion, I believe Forbes ranks Tufts really highly due to the jobs CS and Econ majors get (as they constitute a lot of the student body), but that’s just speculation.

How did you receive such good FA while having a high income? Interested in hearing if you are comfortable sharing. My family barely missed the eligibility requirements.

(Also, saw your comment about TUSM Early Assurance. Where’d you get those stats? I’ve heard otherwise but those were unconfirmed too.)

@going2collegenow Hello- I am not sure, sorry, since I am not on FA. I think you should contact the FA office for this. Although this is a little unrelated, here is a Tufts Daily article that covers some of the former Tufts students who left for various reasons: https://tuftsdaily.com/features/2017/10/30/financial-burdens-lack-diversity-influence-two-students-decision-leave-tufts/

One of the students mentioned in the article left because Tufts changed his aid after his sibling graduated from college. So I guess it is good to keep that in mind. I also met another student on campus that told me that one semester Tufts offered him zero aid out of the blue, so he skipped the Spring semester and worked at home. But that seems to be a rare story. Generally, from what I hear, Tufts FA is good in terms of giving aid. But there are also complaints about the FA people being very unclear on policies (for example, if you are on FA and move off campus). Sorry for the rather roundabout answer.

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@mylifeisgone195 It isn’t Tufts’ problem. Wouldn’t this happen at any similar, expensive private school on the list I mentioned, not just Tufts? People who major in Drama/Dance/Sociology/etc. at any other school, besides top-5 schools like HYPSM, will face similar situations. However, these students still do it either because their financial circumstance can support them or they are willing to take the risk of not finding a job to do what they like, and I applaud them for that. I have not had the courage to do so because of my financial circumstance.

Also, my family income is also not incredibly low, around lower middle income. I am wondering what you define as middle income?

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My family doesn’t own a large asset like a house, so I think that’s why I got good FA.

About TUSM — I heard that from an early assurance admitted student.

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@mylifeisgone195
bravo for your honesty

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@mylifeisgone195 I’m sorry you’re not having a better experience at Tufts. It sounds like much of this is because things have turned out differently from what you expected, and you have to consider whether or not your expectations were reasonable to start with. Are you the first kid in your family to go to college, or maybe an only child? We certainly learned a lot when D16 was going through the process, and not that we haven’t made any mistakes the second time around, but we felt much better informed this time. I feel a little bad for my older D sometimes–it’s hard to be the guinea pig! I do remember reading somewhere that the average 4 year college increases their tuition by 3-4% each year. So, it sounds like Tufts is right in that ballpark. My S is attending a very nice, very small, and not big-name LAC that is almost as much as Tufts. We never cared much in this family about prestige and brand name schools, but honestly, I remember thinking, why would anyone pay almost as much as Tufts to go to S’s school? Fortunately he got a huge merit scholarship, which makes the price far more reasonable, but there are lots of full pay students at his school. So, as others have pointed out, Tufts’s cost is not really unusual (of course the fact that S’s school gives merit scholarships is an advantage).

D16 goes to a large public uni, and they guarantee housing for all freshman. This means quite a few “forced” triples in small rooms that are designed for doubles. So, it is not unusual that Tufts would do this, either. Some of the dorms at D16’s school are very nice, and some are not. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m not unsympathetic to your dissatisfaction, but pretty much everything you’ve pointed out it not specific to Tufts. You might be experiencing a bit of “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” syndrome. I know you are angry about the tuition increase, but if you added up the extra amount for the next two years, it makes no sense at all to transfer to a community college (please explain to me where this would get you, as one would go to a community college for their FIRST two years to save money, and then transfer to a more expensive four year to finish their degree, not the other way around). You could transfer to a less expensive public four year school for your last two years, but every college has different graduation requirements. It’s possible that not all your credits would transfer, leaving you to pay for summer courses or extra credits. Is this worth the extra money you will be spending on the tuition increases for the next two years? You will have to run the numbers to decide. However things turn out, I hope that you will either have a better experience at a different college, or that you will be able to put things in perspective and come to love where you are. Best wishes!

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@going2collegenow Definitely call Tufts Financial Aid office and ask to speak with your FA counselor. We are new to financial aid, so I am not an expert here. But, unlike a merit scholarship, which is usually a fixed amount guaranteed for all four years, your financial aid package is recalculated every year based on your family’s finances. We were very surprised and pleased to get financial aid from Tufts for D18; it was a mix of grants and loans, but it stated right on there the aid was based on having three kids in college, and that if this changes (as it will when D16 graduates), the amount of the grant will be reduced. Also, as you go from freshman year to senior year, the amount of federal subsidized and unsubsidized loans allowed increases, and sometimes they reduce the amount of the grant to take this into consideration. They may be still giving you the same amount of “aid,” but more of it may be in loans, which you have to pay back, and less in grant money, which you don’t

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My son just graduated from Tufts last spring in BIO. I can honestly say that from our initial application to graduation, the whole thing was a lot different than what we expected. At first, its the over hyped image that Tufts is the greatest place on earth. It was a very good experience, but reading the reactions and stories of those who apply are often over the top. It is not Disneyland. There are great and not so great things about any institution. It is also hard work and by your senior year, grades are less of the drama focus as career options become more based on who you are at that point rather than what you thought you would be as a freshman; and that is normal.

Tuition, frankly, is really an issue. It is too high. However, if you have need, Tufts seems to be somewhat reasonable compared to a state school full price tag. You have to take time to get to know the FA team if you have any issues. Especially as you are a jr/sr as you are too committed to let tuition stop your progress.

I would like to see tuition reductions as it is a barrier for entry, even if you pass the admission process and get in. And the level of “need” is also very arbitrary, it will cost a lot even with help for those who need. But, what is the admitted rate? If it is really that low, people seem to be paying as it keeps tuition going up. $75k is insane for any school. You would probably do just as well at a state school if you are motivated. You make your future not a school. Maybe spend more on getting into grad school of choice. That said, I have no complaints about Tufts, but the Disneyland effect for some of these schools by potential candidates, at least in MHO, is causing some of this. That is not unique to Tufts. Ranking are also very manipulated, up or down.

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I have a problem with those “best values” articles, because they use an “average net cost” to calculate ROI. They use $25K or something for Cornell. If your actual net cost is full pay at $72K, it makes a difference. ROI is a real calculation, so you have to calculate using your actual numbers.

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Didn’t mean to post this.