CMU announced tiered Tuition at Record High Prices

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
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<p>Starting this year, CMU will be instituting tiered tuition. For new students the tuition will rise by a whipping 8% to over $34,180, making them among the top 20 most expensive schools in the US. Existing students will see an increase of only 4%. CMU announced that they are doing this for increased initiatives such as more financial aid. Thus, if you are paying "full freight," you can have the pleasure of feeling much more shafted than ever. I guess since they have a 20% increase in applications, they feel that they can raise tuition significantly.</p>

<p>Here is a copy of their news release:</p>

<p>PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University has announced a tiered tuition increase for incoming and current undergraduate students for the 2006 fall semester. Entering students will see an eight percent increase in undergraduate tuition to $34,180. Students who entered Carnegie Mellon in 2003, 2004 and 2005 will see a tuition increase of 4.4 percent to $33,050. Carnegie Mellon has used a tiered tuition approach in the past for students already enrolled at the university. </p>

<p>In 2006, room costs for all students will increase 4.9 percent to $5,440 and board will increase 2.8 percent to $3,800. The university's Board of Trustees authorized the increase at its Feb. 17 meeting. </p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon will continue to assess a technology fee of $150 to upgrade and support the university's innovative computer networks. </p>

<p>One of the nation's top research universities, Carnegie Mellon uses tuition to sustain and grow the kind of programs that allow it to compete for outstanding students and faculty. Tuition also supports the expansion of undergraduate education initiatives and the continuous improvement of student facilities. </p>

<p>Competition for a spot in Carnegie Mellon's freshman class continues to intensify. As of Feb. 1, Carnegie Mellon reported a record 20 percent increase in applications. More than 18,493 prospective students applied for the 1,360 spots in its first-year class. </p>

<p>"We aim to offer the best possible learning environment for our students," said Carnegie Mellon Vice President for Enrollment William Elliott. "The student experience here extends beyond the classroom into all aspects of student life. Tuition helps to fuel a very positive experience for our students and provides them with a strong start on their futures." </p>

<p>Elliott said that more than half of Carnegie Mellon's students receive some form of financial aid. "It is very important for us to be able to reach out to students interested in the great experience of a Carnegie Mellon education."</p>

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<p>20 percent increase? Jesus... </p>

<p>Anyways, most full paying applicants and students are not affected by this. Many who pay full price are international students and of course rich students. They are alerady paying an overall 40-50k a year already and a 2k increase will not likely hurt them at all. </p>

<p>I think this is pretty important for CMU to do as we can now offer more money to people who need it. We are taking the 2k from the internationals and the rich and basically allowing it to go to the poor (who may very much decide to come to CMU based on a 2k or so increase in financial aid).</p>

<p>Like you said, more than half of CMU students receive some form of financial aid and I believe that this increase is infinitely more beneficial to applicants than it is detrimental to.</p>

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<p>Acceptedtocollegealready, what you say MAY be true,but if you are the US student who isn't receiving aid, it probably won't make you feel warm and furry.</p>

<p>Also, you note that mainly foreign student pay full price. Where do you get your facts? What about some American students?</p>

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<p>Are you serious? You know internationals are not applicable for U.S. financial aid right?</p>

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<p>PS: I just talked with Disha Shah (international indian who goes here). Besides Harvard, if you apply for financial aid that is like saying "plz reject me". I know 4 other korean internationals who are also paying full price. </p>

<p>Do you even go here? Are you just randomly trolling because if you went here at ALL you would know a few internationals and you would know NOBODY gets financial aid. </p>

<p>Prove me wrong and PM me a name so I can contact them.</p>

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<p>Accepted, I am a father of a prospective freshmen there. We have had three kids get into CMU from our high school, and none of them, to my knowledge, has received any merit based aid. One got need based aid, however. My point is that foreign students aren't the only ones paying full freight.</p>

7

<p>That is true but please let me summarize. </p>

<ol>
<li>Internationals pay full price anyways. A 2k or so increase will not affect them much at all. Disha for example, would've came here whether tuition was 30k-50k. Now, why should internationals benefit off private universities? This is a private institution and it can look out for its own interests. </li>
</ol>

<p>Lately, international applicants have risen and many of these applicants are more and more qualified. From my knowledge in economics, we can examine a Price Elasticity model. With the increase in DEMAND, we can increase PRICE to thus gain the maximum profit. With international applicants, their PRICE ELASTICITY is less than 1 so it is INELASTIC. This means that you can increase profits by raising price since quantity will decrease at LESS of a percentage than price will increase. With the increase in qualified international applicants, the increase in tuition is basic business logic.</p>

<ol>
<li>Like you said, more than half of students get financial aid and those that don't would not likely care about a 2k increase. I would not like to give out names though I can pm some to you if you want. These students will tell you that they do not care about the increase and are happy for it if their 2k can allow a less fortunate and VERY qualified applicant to come to Carnegie Mellon. </li>
</ol>

<p>Obviously there are always some complains about any kind of tuition increase but I believe that using this system to give more financial aid and incite more matriculations is not only moral but logical.</p>

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<p>I really don't think the amount of the tuition increase has anything to do with taking "more from the rich and giving to the poor" though that may be a small relatively inconsequential result of the increase. Tuition is set by a complex set of circumstances (taxguy is well aware of this I can assure you) that takes into account endowment, faculty salaries, cost of living, physical plant upkeep...on and on and on. CMU isn't trying to randomly screw people...with their relatively small endowment this is what they feel they must charge to provide a first class education and compete with richer and better known universities.</p>

<p>I am under the impression that international undergrads at CMU pay full freight. Since there's a high %age of non-US at CMU, I believe it's something like 12-14% that's a lot of income for CMU right there which i think was Accepted's point. If you take out the internationals it's more like 60% of Americans get aid if my logic is correct, not a bad number. </p>

<p>Also the tuition is very high but remember schools like Ursinus, Gettysburg, Syracuse etc (there are plenty) which have nowhere near the reputation of a Carnegie Mellon are probably in the 40K per year range.</p>

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<p>Acceptedcollegealready notes,"These students will tell you that they do not care about the increase and are happy for it if their 2k can allow a less fortunate and VERY qualified applicant to come to Carnegie Mellon"</p>

<p>Also 2331clk notes,"you take out the internationals it's more like 60% of Americans get aid if my logic is correct, not a bad number. "</p>

<p>Response: I bet most of the parents, who pay the bills, care about paying more than they should to subsidize those that get a subsidy. In addition, the subsidy isn't just 2K,but it is 2K more per year!</p>

<p>As far as knowing that 60% of US applicants get aid, maybe I am not that egalitarian. If my daughter gets admitted with zero aid, it won't sit well with me that I am heavily subsidizing ( considering CMU's lack of sizable endowment) some other kids. </p>

<p>I guess the old saying that," When you rob from Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the support of Paul," is still true.</p>

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<p>I know that the increase will cause debate and criticism from parents and students alike, but right now Carnegie Mellon has really rised in prestige and selectivity. </p>

<p>A 20% overall university increase (with programs like Tepper rising even faster) is truly remarkable right now (Ivy leagues this year have reported increases in 8-11%). As you know, CMU's endowment is not rising as fast as its prestige, and so with the basic concepts of economics, a rise in demand (of 20%) requires a rise in price :) The fact that they are using this increase to help finance qualified students is a plus and is overly beneficial to the university. </p>

<p>Please think of it as an investment. Your extra 2k will go a long way in making your Carnegie Mellon degree that much more valuable. If you choose to pay it, you will reap the benefits :). </p>

<p>I do not agree with you when you say "it won't sit well with me that I am heavily subsidizing ( considering CMU's lack of sizable endowment) some other kids". Most of these "other" kids are going to be IN DEBT and taking out loans regardless. CMU is just allowing them (most times matching) the offers of other schools. If someone is very qualified to attend CMU, it is beneficial to the University that they attend. </p>

<p>Lastly, I'm sure your daughter will be qualified for aid if she needs it. If not, I'm sorry this increase has affected you (though it affects me too) in choosing Carnegie Mellon. I truly believe the education and rising prestige/selectivy at Carnegie Mellon is worth more than the small increase in price (especially when the money is going to go to the raising of the prestige and selectivy of CMU even more).</p>

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<p>This really makes me glad my son didn't go to CMU (in some ways). We got nearly no financial aid and we really couldn't afford the COA. Now, we really REALLY couldn't afford it. </p>

<p>
[quote]
One of the nation's top research universities, Carnegie Mellon uses tuition to sustain and grow the kind of programs that allow it to compete for outstanding students and faculty.

[/quote]

The extra tuition money is certainly not going to help the poor or middle class afford CMU. It is going to sustaining and growing programs, programs that have very little impact on undergrads, except for the CMU reputation in general.</p>

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<p>Read that quote more carefully. They are using it to compete for outstanding STUDENTS and faculty. Competing for outstanding students means MONEY spent on them. </p>

<p>How do you know they are the money just for grad school? We recently had some important people come to New House (where I live) to speak to us about spending/suggestions/and CMU life. They seem very focused on us and I doubt they are trying to screw ugrad in order to benefit grad. </p>

<p>As a side note, may I ask why a random parent who had a kid apply to CMU would still be lurking on the CMU boards?</p>

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<p>AcceptedtocollegeAlready asks,"
As a side note, may I ask why a random parent who had a kid apply to CMU would still be lurking on the CMU boards"</p>

<p>Response: Frankly it's none of your business. Do I make that plain enough. However, if you must know or care, I wanted everyone to be aware of the new tiered tuition by CMU. Moreover, as a parent who might be spending $34,000 a year and more, I am a concerned party.</p>

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<p>Accepted,
None taken. I did not mean to say that anyone is trying to screw undergrads. It is just my impression that at big research universities (not just cmu), the undergrads may not get their due. Funding that research and bringing in renowned faculty is important and expensive. It bolsters the school's reputation and attracts undergrads and grads alike. I certainly didn't get the impression that the extra revenue from increased tuition was earmarked for offsetting the tuitions of needy students. It will be interesting to see what improvements, if any, result. And certainly, you as a student are in the best position to judge that.</p>

<p>BTW, it really doesn't matter who "lurks" where, and I have interest in the new tiered tuition structure also.</p>

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<p>Misunderstanding here as I was responding to lk since his son now goes to U.pitt. Unless his son was planning on transferring to CMU, I was wondering how this situation affected him.</p>

<p>I perfectly understand your situation as the article you've posted is quite relevant to this board as well as to your immediate situation. That is why I have invested my time to try and help alleviate some of your concerns. </p>

<p>To summarize, I believe that the increase in tuition should be seen as an investment, not as a subsidy to other students. I wish our endowment was growing as much as our reputation but it is not. To rectify this situation, a tuition increase seems to be moving in the right direction. 20% increase in apps and Tepper's rank movement to 5th was probably the last straw that broke the camel's back.</p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

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<p>To LK: Ah okay. Yes I do believe at a lot of universities, they do focus a bit more on the graduate and research programs than on us undergrads. However, as you can see from the article (and from my talks with my RA who has close ties with the administration), they are claiming to increase tuition in order to help BOTH students + programs. </p>

<p>I do not know if they will follow through with what they are saying but hopefully they do and we can start seeing an increase in yield and an increase in more qualified applicants matriculating AS well as better funding for certain programs.</p>

<p>I believe the prestige part will come naturally with the application increases but hopefully the adminstration will spend a modest amount of the money on students.</p>

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<p>This conversation singles Carnegie Mellon out for its 8% tuition increase. (remember since 3 existing classes get 4% increase, CMU at least for the next year will see more like a 5% increase overall).</p>

<p>To be fair you have to judge this increase compared to increases at other comparable private universities. I can't imagine CMU is the only school with an increase in the 8% range (5% overall). Tell us what the increases will be at Cornell, RPI, WashU, UPenn, Case Western, Emory, MIT, Brandeis etc in other words comparable peer type schools...if CMU is out of line you have a point but not till you see numbers for other schools.</p>

<p>Also since when is CMU the only school where the rich "subsidize" the less rich? I think you can say that for any school that gives financial aid (in other words all schools).</p>

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<p>taxguy, do you have link showing CMU is one of the top 20 most expensive schools in the nation for "06-'07? There wasn't a mention of that in the article. Thank you for providing this information.</p>

<p>If you are going by tuitions from last year, and you now plug in CMU's new tuition, how do you know what the new tuitions are for those other expensive schools? Since CMU just announced this increase I can't imagine there is a complete final '06-'07 list for all colleges and universities saying CMU is top 20...just making sure you are comparing apples to apples...</p>

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<p>2331CLK asks,"taxguy, do you have link showing CMU is one of the top 20 most expensive schools in the nation for "06-'07"</p>

<p>Response: CMU's tuition for 2005-6 was over $32,100 and they just had a large increase for this year's class that seems bigger than that of other top schools. However, I did search the Chronicle of Higher Education for similar schools' tuition rates. Here is what I found:</p>

<p>Amherst $33,035
Babson $30,496- Cheaper
Brandeis $32,501, probably cheaper in 2006 than CMU
Brown U $ 32,974
Columbia $33,246
Cornell $31, 467, - Cheaper
Harvard $32,097- probably cheaper
Tufts $32,621 probably cheaper in 2006
Duke $32,409 probably cheaper than CMU in 2006
Univ of Chicago $ 32,265 probably cheaper than CMU in 2006
Dartmouth $32,055 Cheaper than CMU
Northwwestern $32,789
NYU $31,690 This is cheaper than CMU,which is surprising
Stanford $31,600 cheaper
Yale: $31,460 cheaper
Princeton: $31,450
MIT: $32,100
RPI: $31,875 cheaper than CMU
UPenn: $32,364 probably cheaper than CMU in 2006
Emory: $30,766 much cheaper than CMU surprisingly</p>

<p>In fact, most of the ivys are a bit cheaper than CMU. With the 8% increase, I would bet CMU tuition will exceed any of the ivys and of MIT with the possible exception of Columbia.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the numbers. Yes CMU is quite expensive. And most likely 8% increase will be on the high end but to be fair you have to wait to see what other school increases will be for 06-07.</p>

<p>Still what the #'s show me is CMU isn't at all out of line, at least for 05-06. Tuitions seem fairly similar. Using CMU base of 32100 here's the ratios of other schools to CMU:</p>

<p>Amherst 1.03
Babson .95
Brandeis 1.01
Brown 1.03
Col 1.04
Cor .98
H 1.00
Tufts 1.02
Duke 1.01
Chi 1.01
Dart .998
NW 1.02
NYU .987
Stan .984
Yale .98
Pr .98
MIT 1.00
RPI .993
Penn 1.008
Emory .95</p>

<p>Total of above 19.98...20 schools...Final average ratio is .999...so CMU is exactly average in this group.</p>

<p>Still gotta wait for announcements of increases from other schools. CMU will probably be on the high end but no one knows that for sure till other figures are released....also it will take 3 more years for CMU to realize this particular 8% increase for all undergrads (unfortunately there will be more increases). </p>

<p>Bottom line all these schools are ridiculously expensive but they're all within a couple thousand dollars of each other and within 5% tuition of each other. Actually take out Babson and Emory on the low end and that falls to 2%.</p>