<p>Simply stated: why is St. John's so expensive?</p>
<p>The school offers no fancy facilities (like Reed's nuclear reactor, or even legitimate science labs), has a tiny faculty, and the program requires very little revision or change. So why does St. John's cost more than any of the other colleges I'm looking into?</p>
<p>For reference, a year's tuition at St. John's is $40,392. </p>
<p>I am not trying to attack the school; I am just wondering why it costs so much, as I would love to attend but cannot afford it.</p>
<p>First, you slightly underestimated the cost of SJC, it should come to nearly $50,000. And I completely understand your concern, the only way I will be able to attend is if I happen to be poor enough to merit enough need based financial aid. And I would really encourage you to apply if you are in any sort of lower income strata as the Santa Fe campus meets something like 97% of need (EFC - Cost of Attendance) and Annapolis something like 82% of need. After all, you won’t receive any aid or have any chance of attending if you don’t apply. I mean, it’s a long shot for me to go, my family’s income is right about the cost of attendance and I have a younger brother two years behind me. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that my mother loses her job right as we complete the FAFSA in January (Horrible I know, but I love this school sooo much!) so that I can receive more aid.</p>
<p>This provides information about SJC’s endowment, and a great deal of information into why the cost might be so high. I would also posit that the school only has 1,000 undergraduates, and that maintaining two campuses for so few students must be very expensive, as the link suggests at the end. That and like most colleges St. John’s has been building many improvements to its campus in order to accommodate the students. I would also consider the fact that the school nearly went bankrupt in the 20’s, they aren’t very well known and are simply struggling to become more financially hardy. And don’t get me wrong, a school with an endowment of $110 Million is not in any danger of going under. In comparison to many other school’s SJC is not well known, which surely detracts from its ability to get money.</p>
<p>Of course, this is all speculation by me, if you have more questions I would suggest directly contacting St. John’s through their website.</p>
<p>I must admit that I chickened out of applying to St. John’s in the end, and this Fall I will be attending a more conventional liberal arts college. I received minimal aid from the college I will be attending, but I was under the impression that St. John’s gave very very little aid, hence the lack of applying. It was also difficult to convince my parents that a school with no real professors or lectures was worth their money.</p>
<p>This may have been a huge mistake, because if I am unhappy at the college I will be attending, transferring to St. John’s will add a whole new year of college tuition to my costs. Indecisiveness is quite expensive.</p>
<p>Good luck on your college application process! Perhaps we may go to school together in the future.</p>