About Northeastern:
Not true 100% of the time.
Important to note that NEU only increases college need-based aid, not merit or federal/state.
I’m curious - is the “tuition freeze” more characteristic of public or private schools?
I think I’ve even heard of some sort of tuition pre-pay program starting from birth. Or I might be imagining that.
Recent article from the Atlantic on frozen tuition with increasing fees: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/01/how-university-costs-keep-rising-despite-tuition-freezes/512036/
Ohio University has been mentioned but their Ohio Guarantee includes fees, room and board. It goes beyond simply a tuition freeze.
Not sure if this is still the case…but if you pay up front…you pay the price for your freshman year for all,four years at Skidmore.
^It’s the same at Syracuse, but I don’t know if there are refunds if kid transfers out.
Boy, you would sure hope so. (Or flunks out, or dies while still in school…)
If you prepay at the beginning of freshman year, you are tying up 3 years of the use of that money. If tuition (only tuition) is about $40k, you are not getting any use of $120k for that time. Is the increase in tuition going to be more than the interest that could be earned on that money? The investment income?
You’re not going to earn much guaranteed interest these days, even on $120k over three years. And investment income (don’t forget possible investment losses!) depends on the inverstment vehicle and the markets. Unless you have an extra $120k sitting around, you would be a fool to place funds that are designated for your kid’s education over the next three years in any kind of risky investment.
Interest…? Hahahahaha!
School costs have increased more than the rate of interest we earned on any accounts.
I’m sure there aren’t that many people who have $120k extra ($160k total) available at the beginning of freshman year who just have it in a regular savings account. If it is in a 529, you can’t withdraw it all in the first year without penalty.
Why not?
UIUC
McGill (for the majors where they charge market rates; the ones that Quebec subsidizes are much cheaper anyway).
A bunch of unis in the UK for Internationals.
I did find out from the bursar that tuition prepayment at Syracuse is refundable for voluntary or involuntary withdrawal. I. Interestingly, he sent along a chart of tuition increases – from 6.4% in 2005-2006, to 3.6 or 3.5% over the last several years.
I did give this some thought, but because my D was awarded a University scholarship of more than $4,000, we are not eligible to prepay. I’m guessing it’s because of GPA requirements etc. to keep the scholarship, but I’m not sure. In any event, it’s a good problem to have, I guess.
Lafayette College allows prepayment. I think this is also limited to full pay students. You can prepay tuition but not room/board.