@Chardo: A lot of privates (and some publics) offer stuff prix fixe that would have been a la carte a generation ago. Tickets to sports, cultural events, transportation, trips to various places for various reasons, support from various centers for different projects, etc.
Of course, all of those things have to be paid for so aren’t really free.
If the colleges just give ‘free dining’, then it isn’t taxable. There is no sales tax on the disney dining because there is nothing to tax (except the overpriced room). Believe me, if there were a way to tax it, Florida would find it.
Colleges could do the same thing, overcharge for tuition, undercharge for room and board.
Pell grant students are often only a minority of students receiving financial aid at high ranked private schools.
A typical distribution for such a school is to have about half of the students with no financial aid (families in the top 2-5% income approximately), most of those receiving financial aid from families in the upper half of the income distribution, with a small number from families in the lower half of the income distribution (Pell grant recipients).
School No aid Aid, no Pell Aid, Pell
Bowdoin 50% 36% 14%
Middlebury 59% 28% 13%
Hamilton 46% 38% 16%
Seems like the business model depends on having lots of students paying lots of money.
@Zinhead, after twenty years of people paying $40k, $50k, and now $60k for a school that is below the #50-75 ranked school, consumers have finalizing gotten realistic about the cost benefit - I don’t believe the top universities or LAC’s will ever be impacted by this. And what the article missed is that 20-25% of the operating budgets at these schools are funded by the endowments and annual gifting.
@Chembiodad: Yeah, I daresay that only a small minority of the student body at privates in the #50-75 range are actually full-pay these days. Maybe 10%, on average, and they certainly would have stats are that below average and likely in the bottom quartile for those schools.
Interesting theory, PT, but perhaps full pay is higher than you think.
I looked up Villanova as an example. (#50.)
Approximately half (~800) of the enrolling Frosh received some sort of FinAid. ('Nova does not meet full need.)
Of those, 200 received merit money only.
total with some free money = ~800 out of 1650 Frosh. The rest are full pay? (If I am reading correctly.)
American University (#75) only awards merit money to ~10% of its incoming Frosh.
Using USNWR national university ranks… percentage not receiving financial aid:
31% #50 Pepperdine
50% #50 Villanova
36% #56 George Washington
31% #56 Southern Methodist
20% #60 Fordham
30% #60 Syracuse
08% #60 Worcester Polytechnic
18% #66 Yeshiva
29% #68 Brigham Young
10% #71 Baylor
08% #71 Stevens Institute of Technology
37% #74 American
17% #74 Clark
Looks like typical percentage not receiving financial aid in this ranking range of private universities is lower than the 50% commonly seen at the top of the rankings, but higher than 10%. (However, note that #68 BYU has a very low list price compared to other private universities, so even those paying list price are paying less than many receiving financial aid at many other universities.)
When we were looking, I got the feeling that a shakeout is in process.
Some decent schools are fighting declining enrollment, and some others (IMO largely overrated) are turning away record numbers.
If the number of foreign students drops off even a little for top 50 schools, and it looks like maybe it is for a little bit… Well…
Directionals and some regionals have been filling up with “local” students all along, and may not see much of a change. Unless they’re private. The cachet conscious will fill slots now open at a bigger name, better known, premium U.
@ucbalumnus: That is the percentage not receiving fin aid or merit money, I assume?
OK, that 10% figure seems to only apply to small tech institutes. Looks like some folks are still willing to pay up for an urban private.
It is 100% minus the percentage of all undergraduate students receiving “grant or scholarship aid” listed in the college entries at https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/ .
Given the number of people that pay $20-30k+/year for k-12, the top schools won’t have any problem filing up their full-pay seats for years to come. That said, the thought that an LAC with a #150 ranking is still trying to justify $50k/year seems very frothy.
@Chembiodad , that is true for now but cracks are forming. After paying $25K for a private HS, nearly all of my son’s friends opted for a top public flagship with an COA of <$30K. The top privates are not worth the $30K/yr difference for most of us.
@ucbalumnus (Thread #26) I assume that the percentages are kids who receive neither merit money nor need-based aid? I had heard that at U Miami, approximately 40% of kids get at least some merit and 40% get some need based aid, so I think that the full-pay there is around 20% depending on whether there is double counting in either of the two categories of aid recipients.
% of students receiving Institutional grants or scholarships: 82%
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=university+of+miami&s=all&id=135726
Amen to that. I think people are getting fed up, especially those paying full freight for average to below-average private schools. Where’s the value?
I totally agree. Also, just thought I’d add that our local private schools in the Silicon Valley area charge $43,000/year for 6-12.
Well, I underestimated how many people are still willing to be full-pay for #50-75 national unis, but the percentage of full-payers at a #150 LAC is very likely to be around the 10% (at most 20%) range unless it is a LAC with a list cost that is substantially below that of the top privates.
The headline of this thread is deceiving…most of the top 50 private schools can easily fill a freshman class with full pay students with families willing to pay $65-70K a year. The fact that most of these schools have 50 % or less full pay is a credit to the effort to fulfill the diversity mission. This includes economic diversity, first generation college students, etc.
The less sought after LAC and regional private universities deeply discount most tuitions…the sticker price is a made up figure which very few pay.
Yes, there are dozens of colleges where the median family income is $150,000 and there are at least a dozen where the median family income is > $200,000 per year. There is still no shortage of parents willing to pay top dollar for a top college.
@dtrain1027: “most of the top 50 private schools can easily fill a freshman class with full pay students with families willing to pay $65-70K a year.”
Top 50 privates including LACs (so roughly the top 25 private unis and top 25 private LACs)? Probably.
Once you start getting to the lower half of the top 50 privates (both unis and LACs, so top 100 total), you’ll find schools who would not get the student body profile they desire if they gave no aid/money.