<p>I received this letter from York College of Pennsylvania today, where my son is a sophomore. It is signed by the college president.</p>
<p>York is a private, non-sectarian college which charges public school rates. </p>
<p>The letter read, in part:</p>
<p>"College pricing is complex and confusing. As you know, some of the astronomical prices are merely inflated figures, to allow for discounts. The posted prices are not an accurate indicator of program quality or cost of delivery. In effect, many colleges charge ultra-high prices to some parents to provide financial aid to parents of other students. Many middle income families (or students via loans) , however, end up paying the very high prices because they just miss qualifying for financial aid.</p>
<p>We follow a very straight-forward approach to "pricing our product." We charge what we need to charge to cover our costs of operation and allow for a modest operating positive. We invest our net revenue in new plant and equipment. We provide scholarships to reflect academic achievement and financial need (both funded by contributions and York College's endowment return) to reward accomplished students and help truly needy families. We do not engage in income redistribution, which is the true effect of discounting.</p>
<p>Thank you for your confidence in our institution and our philosophy."</p>
<p>Yes, I know that York is not Harvard, or even Dickinson. But this is quite different from most of what you see coming from college offices these days.</p>
<p>Yeah, but I don't understand why the letter knocks or comments on other colleges. Surely it would be preferable to outline what York does and refrain from analyzing what other colleges do. I don't think the characterization is completely accurate, either.</p>
<p>At DS's school we were told that financial aid money comes from alumni contributions and that no one pays full freight because the actual cost exceeds the sticker price. Might be true, might not, but I don't trust York to define what's true at another school either. </p>
<p>That said, I understand that York College is a wonderful opportunity for some students. A close friend's son went there and thrived and his parents were very grateful for their very reasonable tuition.</p>
<p>interesting link. What I really loved was how they presented their data in their graphs. Their results, especially in the case studies look spectacular on first glance, because they cut off most of the bottom of the graph. For instance, one graph showed what looked like a doubling of enrollment, when in fact it went from 520 to 603. The graph started at 400 on the y axis.</p>
<p>Need to make notes for my next powerpoint presentation at work....</p>
<p>mythmom, I agree that at many of the high-endowment colleges, your statement is very correct--The cost of the education exceeds the pricetag. And I think that the letter I posted does not acknowledge that.</p>
<p>I also believe that at other levels of schools, there IS the type of income redistribution that is referred to--in that financial aid is funded not only from contributions and endowment income, but from current tuition payments from full payers. And many people are just fine with that, and some are not. We all have a choice.</p>
<p>I was just surprised to see the issue discussed so forthrightly.</p>
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For instance, one graph showed what looked like a doubling of enrollment, when in fact it went from 520 to 603. The graph started at 400 on the y axis.
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</p>
<p>That's an old trick from the book How to Lie with Statistics. I've seen online discussions in which statistics teachers justify the practice as saving space on the page.</p>