How to bring college costs down for everyone?

If people look outside the Northeast they would find perfectly good schools, with all the amenities, for significantly less money.

Our sons went to a school with perhaps the nicest fitness/activity center on the east coast, and the food is consistently ranked Top 10 in the country. There are 28 different dining locations on campus. There are also little robots that will deliver food to your dorm.

They’re building new dorms, making improvements to already excellent athletic facilities, and recently added a massive, state of the art addition to the business school complex.

Applications and admissions are all up. It has a student/faculty ratio of 16:1, the average class size is 25, 88% of classes have <50 students, and an impressive 98% of classes are taught by professors. The graduation rate is 82% and the satisfaction rate is 96%.

The current tuition, room & board is <$44,000 for full pay, out-of-state students. For in-state full pay students it is <$27,000.

It’s also ranked as the best school in the state for getting a job after graduation. Our son had a job lined up prior to graduation in 2022, and in 2023 his compensation will exceed the averages for both Computer Science and Engineering early career earnings. I feel that’s a decent start, and fairly good ROI for the money spent.

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They need to start posting a student to admin ratio. I would be curious if there’s any correlation between cost and that ratio.

I’m betting no, based on my experience (yes, it’s limited - but I knew what competitors cost & their approximate staffing).