I want to go to Drexel university and I know that it is really expensive. I know that one does not pay the full price for college but I just wanted to know about how much on average does a student pay for Drexel education?
I see the same issue. Drexel’s COA is at least $10K higher than any other school my son is applying to except for Carnegie Mellon which is still $8K lower.
Drexel has a really good Net Price Calculator that will estimate your academic scholarship based on your GPA and test scores. The financial aid web page has a link for it. If you are a National Merit Finalist, you get an automatic full tuition scholarship. The Drexel website also shows you average stats for its merit scholarships - the better your stats the more money you will get. They also have a ton of little special-interest scholarships you can apply for, which you can combine with a regular scholarship. The website has details on all of these. Applying Early Action can also help boost your award.
I’m a current undergrad. In my Drexel Student interface, it lets me see my estimated cost of attendance. For this year, sophomore year, it comes out to about 58k.
They put me at:
38k for tuition - 20k of which is covered by my merit scholarship (no need-based aid for me, at DU or other schools)
1.5k for textbooks - I paid about $200 for textbooks in my whole life. This is a gross over-calculation because nobody actually pays the full-price for textbooks - nobody smart anyways.
13k for room and board - While the residence halls at Drexel may cost this much for Freshman year, after freshman year, you don’t have to live in them (Instead I pay 350 a month and split an apartment with a friend in a nearby neighborhood) or get the meal plan. This ends probably being about 8k for me each year, and would probably cost more at most other campuses where there isn’t such cheap housing nearby.
2k for transportation - Obviously this varies person to person where you’re from. I pay close to nothing to get home. If you’re from Cali or something, obviously different.
3.3k for personal expenses - This is a bit high but let’s assume that I actually do spend that much money on myself.
So for an estimated cost of attendance of 58k, I actually pay 18k+200+8k+0+3.3k = <30k.
Now, consider this:
As a Drexel Student, I go on Co-Op. Let’s say I’m an engineering or science major, and let’s say I’m doing the 5 year, 3 co-op option. My average earnings from Co-Op will be more than $16000.
So, for my freshman and senior year, I pay 30k. For 2nd, 3rd, 4th year, I put my co-op money towards tuition, and I pay 14k. Put that toghether, 30x2 + 14x3 = 102k /5 = About 20k per year.
My total cost of attendance at Drexel averages out to 20k a year, for everything.
So, to summarize:
-Drexel has a high tuition, but also gives out high scholarships to most students
-While freshman year will cost more because you must pay for housing and meal plan, in the years after, you have cheaper options here then would you at most other schools
-Co-Op gives you the opportunity to earn a lot of money to put towards tuition
-Your actual cost of attendance will vary greatly, contingent on your merit award, your lifestyle, your financial aid, etc. On average, students pay a decent amount less than the ECA- because on average, students have some sort of help contributing to cover the costs.
@OnWithTheRiotDU according to the website, tuition next year is listed at $48,791 on the calculator for newly accepted students, so your numbers above are $10K/yr off.
The same calculator estimates total loaded cost of attendance at $70K!!! Which is about as big of a number as you’ll find anywhere.
My son applied but unless we get a ton of need-based aid there’s no way we can afford Drexel. It’s $10K more than any other school he’s applied to. Ridiculous
@OnWithTheRiotDU what neighborhood do you live in that has housing that cheap?
My son was accepted to Drexel in the Honors program and an accelerated program, but I’m trying to understand what makes them so much better from everyone else that condones the price. I love the co-op but other than that, what is there? Every time I call a department, I get a student answering the phone (that is, if anyone bothers to answer at all), professors are inaccessible, not a great area - what is the draw?
Although the sticker price for Drexel is about 70k, you don’t end up paying as much every single year. For one there are co-ops. You can also choose to stay at cheaper off-campus housing after freshman year and also opt for a cheaper meal plan.
I received almost 60% my CoA because of scholarships and financial aid. Students should also consider applying for private scholarships. There are quite a few sites which introduce you to these: www.finaid.org
www.edupass.org
www.InternationalScholarships.com
This is my personal opinion about the costs:
-Its a private school that is still a Tier 1 Research Institute (private school and Tier 1 research, double bump cost)
-the Co Op focus for all of its majors and not just STEM (the likelihood of landing a job in most majors, bump cost)
- Undergraduate class sizes for most programs are relatively small compared to other schools, meaning less students per program means higher tuition to sustain that programs competitiveness and ability (undergraduate selectivity, bump cost)
-Urban Setting (higher cost of living, higher costs to maintain facilities and land, bump cost)
-Local Competition of Temple U, UPenn, and Villanova; (Pricey & competitive schools to stay relevant against, bump cost)
-Near-Local Competition in Bucknell and Lehigh University (solid LAC schools to stay relevant against, bump cost)
A lot of other schools offer similar quality and education in major urban settings but probably face less academic competition near by to them.
Breaking down the local competition, based on the last US News and World Report Update for tuition and fees for each school. Obviously tuition is higher now, but using USNWR puts them all on the same level so that I don’t have to click through each school’s website and get their own current breakdown of tuition.
Drexel - $47,051
UPenn - $47,668
Villanova - $45,966
Lehigh University - $44,890
Bucknell University - $48,498
Bryn Mawr College - $45,540
St. Joseph’s University - $40,580
Thomas Jefferson University - $30,358
La Salle University - $39,800
Cabrini College - $29,842
Chestnut Hill College - $32,510
Temple University - $14,770 (In) $25,450 (Out)
Haverford College - $47,214
Moravian College - $36,800
Swarthmore College - $46,060
Ursinus College - $46,075
Widener University - $39,830
Philadelphia University - $35,080
University of the Sciences - $36,096
Its just an academically saturated market in and around Philadelphia. Its not that much higher than other schools of its caliber and its actually not the highest one in the philadelphia and near pennsylvania regions.
Bucknell > UPenn>Haverford>Drexel>Ursinus>Swarthmore>Villanova>Bryn Mawr>Lehigh>St.Joseph’s>Widener>La Salle>Moravian>UniversityOfSciences>Philadelphia>ChestnutHill>ThomasJefferson>Cabrini>Temple
New York city and Boston I imagine have similar academic lay outs but probably also have a few more public school options that are typically cheaper.