<p>^</p>
<p>Yes, at my D’s school, there were 4 from our state in her class.</p>
<p>I happen to strongly prefer LACs to the larger universities most of the time. That I feel that way and voice my opinion does not mean that most people agree with me. I probably voice it more here because of the nature of this forum, the audience and because it is relevant. </p>
<p>The larger schools have the name recognition that attracts a lot of kids and their families. I think that name recognition really is a disproportionate part of the decision making matrix for most people. I like to point that out. </p>
<p>I have no problem recognizing that most people do not agree with me. I have a kid right now who wants a big state school and I’m trying to present my case for an LAC for him since I truly think it would be a better choice for him. He’s my kid, I love him, and want the best situation for him. So this is not just me spouting off some theoretical mantra here. </p>
<p>I also feel that these LACs and other private schools that are pricing themselves with the better known privates are going to feel enrollment drops. They are probably feeling it now. Though many folks will gladly pay $60K+ to send their kids to Harvard, they are likely to balk at spending close to that kind of money to XYZ College. They’d pick State U over that at less than half the cost and more of the name recognition.</p>
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<p>Was that meant as a joke? If so, I don’t get it, and you forgot the emoticon.</p>
<p>If not, are you really that bigoted?</p>
<p>Why do some people see race in everything? The marketplace is screaming that college is too expensive and colleges are reacting. When you see the blue light illuminate in K-Mart, do you think RACISTS!?</p>
<p>I happen to believe that most people are not discerning enough to recognize that the small LAC is a superior educational experience. Who’s picking on just the southerners? It’s my opinion. Didn’t say it is the prevailing one. Can’t be the prevailing one intrinsically.</p>
<p>Sorry if I offended- it was not my intention. I found it ironic that some of the posters that extol the virtues of the LAC experience seemed to be attacking Sewanee and proclaiming that their experiment in pricing would be doomed in short order.</p>
<p>I give them credit for doing something that goes against the grain. I think it is very tough to be a small LAC located in the South and to get beat up about your lack of diversity.</p>
<p>And it was certainly not my intention to bash southerners.</p>
<p>There are many kids for whom an LAC is a better choice than a large university-- so why not give Sewanee credit for trying to make his U a more obvious choice for those kids, rather than bash him for the lack of minorities.</p>
<p>There is a tipping point in terms of racial and ethnic mix at many colleges. I remember reading about Cornell sending recruiters to the Bronx to find barbers and hairdressers willing to relocate to Ithaca, since they realized that without some critical mass of support services (even seemingly trivial ones like hair stylists) their efforts to recruit AfAm kids would be a losing battle.</p>
<p>Did not mean to offend- but I found some of the comments about Sewanee quite mean spirited. Nobody knows if the effort to change its pricing strategy will be a successful one or not- but give them credit for taking the bull by the horns. Two years from now you can bash them for the lack of Af Am kids.</p>
<p>
Hint: See post # 34 above</p>
<p>Edit after noting cross post: blossom has apologized; I’m glad to drop it</p>
<p>Blossom, do you think decreasing the cost by 10% is truly going to make a difference in the decision of whether to go there or not? I would love for my son’s college to give such a discount, but I don’t think that is enough to be a tip factor, given the total cost being so high for private schools like Sewanee. Better it is given as a merit scholarship to the kids they might most want, than an overall cut.</p>
<p>Xiggi says 20% just won;t happen, but I think that is where it might make some difference. We are at a point where that with another $10K in outside money somewhere would really open up some private college possibilities to us. 30% discount would do it for us, but 25% would be the absolute break point. I come up with those numbers because this is where these schools start competing with the cost of OOS publics and local privates where kids can commute. We can’t do $55000K a year. It just doesn’t cut it. We are at the $35-38 level, but I don’t know where we stand in terms of most families who would love to have their kids go anywhere they want and can get admitted, and open the book to all kinds of possibilities all over the country with only cost the issue.</p>
<p>Let’s say you’re an Alabama resident and are considering Sewanee and the University of Georgia.</p>
<p>The out-of-state fees for tuition, room and board for the University of Georgia for 2010-2011 are $35,406. </p>
<p>For Sewanee, the same fees for this year are $46,112, or about $10,700 more at Sewanee.</p>
<p>Now, if Sewanee cuts this years tuition by 10%, and keeps room and board costs the same, that would reduce tuition at Sewanee by 3,559 dollars. </p>
<p>Now, it would seem that would make the difference between Georgia and Sewanee to be about $7150, but that’s assuming no change in the Georgia tuition. But let’s say that Georgia raises its tuition for out-of-state students by 5% (I think it was 4% last year). That adds about $1350. So the difference now is about $5800, again if room and board charges stay the same (or at least if they are raised at Sewanee, then you would assume a comparable raise at Georgia).</p>
<p>So, if they are hoping to attract more students who would otherwise go to the out-of-state flagship for cost reasons, then the 10% reduction in tuition translates into about a 40% reduction in the difference between the cost for Sewanee and the out-of-state cost to Georgia, if Georgia also raises tuition.</p>
<p>I’ll be curious what Sewanee does the year after next. Will it keep the tuition the same? If so, it could make up the difference if tuition elsewhere just keeps rising.</p>
<p>[Three</a> law schools freeze tuition rates](<a href=“http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202483053900&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1]Three”>http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202483053900&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1)</p>
<p>Skrivr, thanks for your post. I can see how that can make a difference. In my case, it is a $35K OOS cost vs a $55K private school cost, so a 10% decrease of $11k still leaves a sizeable gap especially since the decrease probably would not be on that $55K gross figure…</p>
<p>A few years ago, one a prof at a local college here told me that the consultant their school hired told them the exact opposite strategy - raise the tuition and get more generous with aid. This way the parent feels the kid is going to a more prestigious college because the tuition is high, and then feels better that his kid has snagged a lot of money.</p>
<p>I remember those days Dad<em>of</em>3. Mount Holyoke dropped costs, and it backfired. But I have a feeling these days, things are different. Though we are not yet at the point where full pays have an auto entry card into selective schools, I have seen a lot of families that used to have no cost parameters for their kids’ college choices, now have to set them. Loss of income, loss of savings, decreased earnings, and rising college costs all contribute to this. A couple of years ago, a bunch of my son’s classmates ended up at state school and at choices for cost reason, a crowd that I would not have thought would have to do this. Sobering. </p>
<p>I wish my son had considered some southern schools. The costs are a good $10K less. The room and board numbers are so high in the North East. Our state tuition is reasonable, it’s the room and board that is the killer, and at our state schools, you hold your breath, hoping your kid even gets a room.</p>
<p>Would this thread have gotten so much traction if it had concerned an LAC north of the Mason-Dixon line? I do believe that most CC posters have a negative bias toward almost all schools in southern states. Please, prove me wrong.</p>
<p>^^It wasn’t my intention to get into this when I posted; I was just interested in how Sewanee was reacting to the changing economy. It turns out that we have an interview between two learned and civil southern men, which to my northern ears, is a delight to listen to. In response we get the rude and uninformed drivel that comes from biased, uninformed people. Makes me ashamed to have born north of the Mason Dixon Line.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory, WUStL, Tulane, Duke, University of Virginia, Davidson…yeah, they’re just a bunch of dummies, I guess.</p>
<p>LOL–except all those “southern schools” (listed) that are filled with Yankees.</p>
<p>BTW, WUStL is in the Midwest.</p>
<p>Well stated, atomom!</p>