If you apply REA you cannot apply EA to other private schools.
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College costs have gone up- just like health care costs- because it’s a labor intensive business. You can have a factory making spatulas which went from having 30 people per shift to 10 people per shift to 4 people per shift due to automation… but every section of organic chemistry still has a professor (and usually a TA). Nobody has automated that yet.
College costs have gone up- just like health care costs-- because we live in a litigious society. Malpractice insurance drives up the costs for every medical provider. And every time a drunk kid falls out a window at a frat party, and the parents sue (is stupidity a cause for action?) or a kid slips and falls on an icy path… more non-educational expenses. And large universities don’t wait to get sued- they have entire legal and risk management staffs on the payroll.
College costs have gone up because we live in a consumerist society and we want what we want. When I was in college, the dining hall closed at 7. There was a grace period until 7:30, so if you showed up at 6:55 you could still eat dinner. What college now can get away with limited dining? It’s all food all the time. So your food service shift doesn’t end at 8 pm after clean up… it goes until midnight. Someone’s taking that overtime. Back in the day if you had food allergies, you prepared your own food in the dorm kitchen, hauling your pots and pans back to your room to make sure there was no cross-contamination. Now there is an entire staff of nutritionists and dietary experts to plan healthy meals served in the dining halls which are customized to the “gluten avoidant”, the true peanut allergies, the egg sensitivities, etc. Back in the day, kids with significant mental health issues lived at home and commuted. Now parents expect the college clinic to have “appointments on demand” for everything- support for anxiety, anorexia, depression, Bipolar. And woe to the college who refers kids to health care facilities in town-- we’ve read nasty posts from parents “My kid had a crisis over the weekend and the only person on staff at the clinic was an RN who called 911”.
Really- you have to wonder what drives up college costs? It ain’t instructional! How much does it cost to employ 8 psychiatrists in your clinic vs. the old model of one PCP, two RN’s and a receptionist? Not even counting the allergists, OB-GYN’s, etc?
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I’ve heard that it’s rare for the FA offer to not match the NPC. But the FA may not be structured the way a family wants (could include loans for example). ED schools are typically not flexible in letting applicants go. There have to be extenuating circumstances, such as unexpected job loss or serious illness that impacts the family’s EFC.
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College costs have also gone up because, at least in the public sector, state funding of higher education has gone way down. Through the 1970s, state subsidies were so high that tuition at most public universities was next to nothing for families. Now, states subsidize maybe 25% of the cost. “Public” higher ed is a misnomer, and the costs reflect that. There are other factors, too – including the cost of state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities, consumer-driven demands like better dorms, food, and recreational facilities, and administrative bloat. As a professor, I can assure you that the cause is not faculty salaries, especially now that more and more faculty lines are being replaced with poorly paid adjuncts.
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Frankly, depends on the state. Here in NC, an in-state kid can get a fine education by working and going to school like many of us did through the NC Promise program. Tuition is $1000 per year and all in is like $12K. What I love about the program is that the schools in it are geared more towards first gen and low SES kids. There are many states where in-state tuition is affordable.
Where things really get out of whack is private school tuition. I firmly believe that if people refuge to pay $80K a year then COA would be much less.
Discounted tuition rates across the country has not increased since 2008. Right now, I think it is 50% average or might be even less. But elite colleges are getting >50% full pay students, so they are not hurting at all.
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My state flagship is $36K PER YEAR for in-state students.
Sorry, this has nothing to do with private school tuition- you want to go private? That’s on you. But that a taxpaying family cannot afford the state U? And the wise elders placed the flagship in a rural part of the state which is not commutable from the population centers… so room and board is essential if you’re heading to the flagship.
It helps to look across the country…
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Well, that is on the state legislators then! But I agree it sucks!
At least around where I live, state tuition rates are not outrageous. NC is very reasonable. Same for GA, FL, MD, and SC. VA depends on the school. Some states like NH and TX seem to have higher rates. But those states do not have income tax either.
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Many NPCs are garbage. How can they be accurate when they don’t include merit/discounting (which many don’t, at least at the set of schools that do offer merit/discounting $)?
Regardless, no college wants a student there who doesn’t want to be there, and typically let ED students out of the agreement if that’s what they want, and financial reasons are probably at the top of the list of reasons why.
I think we might live in the same state. Neither of my kids wanted to attend due to how rural our flagship is. Its also gotten increasingly competitive the past few years with many strong in-state students getting bridged to branch campuses.
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The good news is that 28 flagships have lower tuition ( inflation adjusted) than they did 5 years ago.
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Is it one of the usual suspects with poor in-state financial aid (e.g. PA, NH)?
High costs, very few kids live within commuting distance of the flagship, it’s really a perfect storm!
And no, we are NOT one of the states without an income tax!!!
So? Apply to some public schools…I did my in-state flagship and two OOS schools I liked, and there’s plenty of publics that give merit aid to the types of high-stat students who would also consider REA.
There aren’t many privates that have EA anyways, and many of them, like Tulane, UChicago, and Northeastern, like their ED applicants much much more…
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I was only responding to your comment that REA and EA aren’t mutually exclusive. But they are, depending on where you apply.
Whether a student applies to private or public schools is up to them and their particular situation.
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They are if you are only applying to private schools. She did 2 rolling state schools but really is not interested in large schools.
Note that different REA schools can have different restrictions. While HYPSC REA exclude other ED and other private college EA, Georgetown and Notre Dame REA exclude only other ED (not any other EA).
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The 2 largest factors are increased grant based financial aid for lower/middle income and inflation. If these are controlled for, then the average inflation adjusted increase after grant based FA is often quite small. Some specific numbers from an earlier post, as reported by The College Board are repeated below:
Average Net Cost After Grant Aid in 2022 Dollars (2006 is earliest year listed in report)
4-Year Publics: $19k in 2006 → $19k in 2022
4-Year Privates: $34k in 2006 → $33k in 2022
EA/ED can be relevant to certain specific colleges because it influences the balance of sticker price full pay kids to reduced cost grant aid kids.
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That’s not true of Georgetown or Notre Dame, at least, both are REA and there are no limits on applying elsewhere EA.
Yes, I’m aware. Thanks.
My point was: REA can be mutually exclusive, depending on the schools you apply to.
I’ll move on.
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My money is on IL? everyone complains about the in state costs to UIUC. I agree with the cost of colleges being driven up by lower tax revenues and insanely expensive operating costs driven by “consumer” demands. Everyone complains about paying more taxes in every state (income, property, sales etc) - yet no one seems to also understand that fact that paying less now in taxes means paying more later elsewhere (college, health care). Everyone wants choice, independence, transparency etc.