<p>In this month's issue of The Duke Magazine (published 5 times a year by the Office of Alumni Affairs) they take on the issue of the rising cost of college and Duke's perspective on it. </p>
<p>There's some interesting and useful data and graphs in here showing Duke's increases in tuition over the last decade, their spending on financial aid, the distribution of net tuition paid by students in 2012-13 (showing numbers that paid full tuition, no tuition, and numbers in between), average debt at graduation, and survey results showing how alumni value their Duke education.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting this article! It was really an important read and the information provided was helpful to understand how the process seems to work. I learned a lot, especially from the final table “Distribution of Net Tuition Paid by Duke Students.” I’m not too sure if any other schools clearly communicate the information in such an open manner. Kudos to Duke for doing so!</p>
<p>I like this article consistent with what I have thought about. Good thing is that Duke provides ~3% merit-scholarship in addition to need-based grants different from Ivies. This is the reason I want to my D to apply to Duke. If no merit-scholarship is provided, I asked her forget about it and take state university for BS degree and go to graduate school at Duke or else.</p>
<p>Dad2013 - it’s always great to shoot for the merit scholarships, but just keep in mind how incredibly competitive they are at Duke, due to the very limited number offered. The main scholarships offered at Duke are the AB Duke and the Robertson (which is a combined program with UNC). </p>
<p>The Robertson Scholarship is offered to only 18 students at both Duke and UNC:</p>
<p>The AB Duke is typically offered to only about 20 individuals, most of whom are not only cross admits at Stanford/Harvard/MIT etc, but have really extraordinary accomplishments. Duke uses the AB Duke scholarship to compete for these cross-admits, often with limited success. Here’s an overview of last year’s AB Duke offers:</p>
<p>Yes, I want my D to aim at the limited chance (AB Duke). If not accepted as merit-scholar, I will ask her to be in state university where she would be in honors class. I can pay 20-30K/year for my D’s UG although I am a middle class who cannot get any need-based grants.</p>
<p>The bimodal distibution of students with 80% full pay or no pay is typical for many top 20 universities. The rich and the poor go to the top private universities and the middle and upper middle class fill the state honors programs and U’s that offer merit aid. While college costs are crazy there is still little incentive for the elite schools to cut costs.</p>
<p>^Duke offers a full ride families that make less than $60k. The median income in the US is something like $53k. I agree with you about the bimodal distribution, but would not characterize a family with median income as “poor.” Middle income families are granted very strong aid, upper middle class and upper class not so much. Studies have shown everybody likes to consider themselves middle class or upper middle at the highest, but if your family is pulling in $150k a year statistics would put you in the upper tier. Obviously, $60k a year at that salary can still be a major stetch, though. Interesting article, thanks for posting.</p>
<p>It is also important to recognize that approximate 43 percent of undergraduates receive at least some scholarship/grant funding – not loans alone – and that Duke’s admissions process remains 100 “need blind,” with a guarantee that every admitted candidate will have his full financial requirement met by a combinations of sources.</p>