Just when you thought college couldn't get more expensive

Student Lounge College Life
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"- College and universities stand by their tuition hikes even amid COVID-19.

  • Students worry about the financial hardships they will already face in the aftermath of the virus ...

…Here is a list of some of the school standing by their tuition increase for the 2020-2021 school year despite rising economic concerns as a result of the coronavirus pandemic:

The University of Texas

System approved an across-the-board tuition hike of 2.6 percent for its eight academic campuses, amounting to a $290-a-year increase for in-state undergraduate students at its flagship university in 2020 and 2021.

Rice University

Rice announces undergraduate tuition for the 2020-21 school year will be $50,310, an increase of $1,980, or 4.1 percent, over the current year. The total cost, including $14,500 for room and board and $797 in mandatory fees, will increase 3.7 percent to $65,607.

The University of Virginia

will increase its tuition and mandatory fees by 3.6 percent, or between $510 and $880 annually for in-state students, and $1,710 to $2,094 for out-of-state students.

Harvard University

The undergraduate 2020-2021 estimated tuition & fees at Harvard University is $49,653. That’s a 4.02 percent increase from 2019-2020 undergraduate tuition costs of $47,730.

Yale University

The Yale College term bill, which includes tuition, room, and board, will increase by 3.9 percent, from $72,100 to $74,900. Tuition will be $57,700, and room and board for students who live on campus will be $17,200.

Stanford University

Stanford University announced that undergraduate tuition for the 2020-2021 academic year will be $55,473, a 4.9 percent increase from the year before." …

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=14691

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If colleges & universities continue to increase the COA, then there may be a call by families & students for a 3 year college degree path rather than the current 4 years.

Many students search for schools that will accelerate their status by an academic year by accepting AP courses for credit.

Maybe colleges & universities could operate more efficiently on a full calendar year schedule rather than on the current 9 to 10 month academic year.

Colleges & universities should be pushed to allow tuition free or reduced tuition fees for a semester or two of co-op work experience.

Something needs to be done as too many students already are suffering from burdensome student loan debt.

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The average undergrad debt is around $30K, last time I saw numbers. Not great, but not life altering either.

IMO the real issue with the cost of college is that many students just can’t even consider attending a 4 year college due to finances…the relatively high costs (compared to average family incomes) puts a traditional college experience out of reach for so many students/families.

These students are left with options such as the military, trades, job right out of high school, attend a low ranked directional state school, or attend CC, get an associates degree and/or transfer to a 4 year school.

Some students will have successful lives following those paths, but probably better for our country in many ways if more students were able to get bachelor’s degrees.

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“Average debt” means that many students have higher debt.

Additionally, many go on to graduate or professional school & accumulate even more student loan debt.

P.S. I also have concern for students who take out loans to help pay for college, then fail to graduate within 6 years. Even the average debt can be a significant burden for those without a college degree.

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It does vary by state, with states like PA and CT having much higher debt levels than states like UT and NM, presumably due to in-state tuition and FA policies.

https://ticas.org/interactive-map/

Note that while tuition is the headline number, FA is also important in getting to the actual bottom like net price and whether and how much debt is needed. A college may avoid the negative headlines of “raising tuition” but cut FA for budgetary reasons, resulting in more financial stress for many of its students from non-wealthy families. A college that does get negative headlines for “raising tuition” but compensates with more FA may only affect those from the wealthiest families.

True. Note that if “traditional college experience” means the residential one, that is already out of reach of most college students, who attend local colleges as commuters from where they lived before college.

Some may argue that too many people get bachelor’s degrees – but (either way) it would be more beneficial to the country if the ability to get a bachelor’s degree depended more on one’s own ability and motivation to do so, rather than one’s parent’s financial circumstances and choices.

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Yes, good point.

I wanted to add that the average debt number in the TICA report ($29,200) is only for the subset of undergrads who took any debt (65%). So, about 1/3 of students had no debt, which obviously would drive the average debt number down if looking at the entire class of 2018.

I am not sure I’ve heard someone argue that 48% is too high a proportion of 25+ year olds having a bachelor’s degree. I am open to hearing that reasoning though.

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/02/number-of-people-with-masters-and-phd-degrees-double-since-2000.html