SMU annual tuition and fees are approx. $52K and at Harvard it is $48K … apparently price no longer correlates with prestige and academic reputation. So why is SMU so much more expensive?
Rice University in Houston is generally regarded as the most attractive academic institution in Texas and its tuition & fees are approx. $44K. Also Rice is the most selective institution in Texas … it’s not uncommon to hear of Ivy League students being denied entry into Rice. UT Austin, the second most selective and a public university in the capital city of Texas, is generally regarded to be stronger than SMU in academics and appeal and they are SIGNIFICANTLY more affordable as well.
I’m having a hard time understanding how they’re justifying the cost? And I know SMU loves to market their low teacher/student ratios to potential students but that don’t always equate to a supreme learning experience.
According to Google: “Harvard University’s endowment (valued at $37.6 billion as of 2015) is the largest academic endowment in the world”. Given what the stock market has done over the past two years, we can guess that Harvard’s endowment has probably gone up since 2015. Harvard can afford to charge “only” $48k for tuition.
“I’m having a hard time understanding how they’re justifying the cost?”
I feel this way regarding a lot of universities in the US.
@DadTwoGirls Perhaps but there are private institutions with endowments closer to SMU that don’t charge over $50K in tuition and fees.
I agree, the cost of college is getting out of hand but government won’t ever address it.
SMU charges as much as it does because it apparently can. Sometimes it really is that simple.
SMU charges what it feels it needs to charge to give an education to its students. Schools can’t discuss tuition with each other, so someone inches out, and then the next school thinks it can charge that much too. Coke and Pepsi.
Fifteen or so years ago, Skidmore was the most expensive school in the country. The next year, it was some other school.
SMU gives a lot of merit aid, so may students do not pay the sticker price. Harvard does not give merit aid just financial aid.
Agree. I think SMU charges a lot because there are some people who are willing to pay it even without merit aid. Then there’s a large group who are given sizable scholarships to bring the cost down to a more reasonable, though still high, level.
@TexasStudent2018 So many colleges (especially private ones) really prey and mislead gullible wealthy families. SMU is a good school (just like thousands of others) but it’s not worth over a quarter of a million dollars when most graduates won’t get a ROI that justify it. Unlike with Harvard, most people never heard of SMU which matters.
You don’t read about SMU students winning prestigious fellowships/scholarships (Rhode Scholars, Schwarzman Scholars, etc) and winning other prestigious national competitions … all you really hear about if anything is their problematic Greek life (so many fraternities are kicked off campus every year) and conservative values (anti-gay, anti-muslim, anti-diversity).
And I read that SMU is actually providing less aid since the university has been very aggressive recruiting at the nation’s most affluent secondary private schools with students that can afford to pay the sticker price. Also giving less aid will help build SMU’s endowment which will increase their rankings and profile
I agree. SMU charges what it can. As long as people will pay, it will continue to charge. Capitalism 101.
SMU charges what it does because it can. It has an extremely wealthy student body. If you look at their CDS, almost 73% of freshman are full pay (students who were not awarded any grant aid). It has a reputation in Texas as a decent school where wealthy suburban kids who can’t get into UT or top private schools go.
As pointed out above, Harvard’s endowment is $37 billion and SMU’s is at most $2 billion. You should be able to do the math. No one is forcing anyone to go to SMU.
Check out tuition at Wake Forest!
@chb088 That is tuition, room and board. Tuition at Wake Forest is actually several thousand dollars lower than most top privates.
@TomSrOfBoston Well I guess that’s good?! Still seems outrageous for such a small school. They don’t have tons of aid either (some aid but not tons). My friends that went there say they’d never spend that on college for their kids.
Didn’t Lucy Ewing go to SMU? =))
ETA: JK. I do remember SMU doing merit scholarships, at least when my son was applying to colleges (2016). So not everyone is paying sticker price. But still, it’s pricey.
Again, there are much cheaper state schools. If you want the private school name then you pay for it.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Since we have now devolved into name-calling and discussion of partisan educational agendas, we’re done. Closing thread and deleting several posts.