The World's Most Expensive Universities

Parents Forum
1

<p>According to Forbes:</p>

<p><a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/104277/The-Worlds-Most-Expensive-Universities%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/104277/The-Worlds-Most-Expensive-Universities&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>[qoute]This may surprise you: The world’s most expensive universities are not haute institutions in the Swiss Alps or on the balmy shores of the Persian Gulf. Nor are they the Ivy League citadels of America’s elite like Harvard or Princeton, or ancient halls of learning like Cambridge or Oxford in the United Kingdom.</p>

<p>No, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the most expensive four-year university in the U.S. (and most likely the world) is Washington, D.C.’s George Washington University, with a price tag of $39,240 in 2007-2008. Rounding out the top five: Ohio’s Kenyon College ($38,140), Bucknell University in Pennsylvania ($38,134) and Vassar College ($38,115) and Sarah Lawrence College ($38,090), both in New York. All private, all selective and all extremely pricey--and that’s before room, board and books are factored in.

[/quote]
</p>

2

<p>Thanks, Bunsen, but there's more to this than meets the eye. The story talks about colleges jacking up tuition, then increasing financial aid. GW, for example, provides average aid of $23,500 for freshmen. So the average NET cost is about $15,700.</p>

<p>Just paid MIT tuition for spring term--$17,500 for tuition plus fees, or $35,000 annually, not counting room, board or books. I'll bet MIT's average financial aid package is a lot less than that at GW, so the net cost at a school like MIT is probably higher (certainly in our family's case as need-based aid is 0).</p>

<p>They need to make an apples-to-apples comparison. Anyone know the average financial aid package for MIT freshmen??</p>

3

<p>Looks like my assumption was incorrect--average MIT financial aid package was $19K in 2001, probably higher than GW's today.</p>

<p><a href="http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/finaid.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/finaid.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>So net cost IS higher at GW...but not by much.</p>

4

<p>The average net cost (tuition + room + board + loans - need-based aid; I am adding loans back in because they have to be repaid eventually) for students on financial aid is $21,669 at GWU (40% of the freshman class receives need-based fin aid) and $18,476 at MIT (61% on fin aid). Of course these numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt because GWU also gives out merit money which MIT does not.</p>

<p>(Numbers for 2007-08 as published by Collegeboard)</p>

5

<p>NYU tuition is 35K+ this year. their COA on the paperwork put them at 48K+</p>

<p>But unless you are in the cheapest dorm with the smallest meal plan, you will b paying more than that.</p>

<p>I'm not looking forward to when they announce their increase for next year. By the time my son is done college, my car will almost qualify for an antique license plate</p>

6

<p>Sue: Funny about your car. I just took a photo of my car's odometer yesterday as it hit 100,000 and the wife's car is a '95 (yes, from the last century). Fortunately, they both run fine. As for college tuition, we're halfway there, and NOT paying for grad school.</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
NYU tuition is 35K+ this year. their COA on the paperwork put them at 48K+

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Sue, be happy that your S isn't in Tisch, which is about $3500 higher than CAS. :) I think the increase was around 5-7% per year while my D was there. And yes, I'm very happy that she's graduated!</p>

8

<p>fortunately I hardly drive at all. about 2000 miles a year recently. I'm not even sure I would buy a car if this one died. I got in 98 with 54K on it and it has just over 90 K almost 10 years later.</p>

<p>You know it's rough when a 30K scholarship doesn't cover tuition. I'm praying that my son will get one of the 'cheap' rooms next year. Cheap in NYU talk is over 10K. plus food. ugh!</p>

9

<p>The room and board does factor in to the expense. I wonder why they eliminated that?</p>

<p>FWIW, our oldest is graduating from Bucknell this spring and the cost to send him there (with fin aid from school) was less than what it would cost to send him to state uni --and he had a lot fewer students in his classes. </p>

<p>Our second is at Carleton, same deal--cheaper than state uni with the fin aid. The full sticker price for Carleton with room and board is actually higher than Bucknell.</p>

10

<p>I've heard their dorms are like palaces though ;)</p>

11

<p>GWU always gets mistaken for the most expensive school. However, "Tuition is fixed for up to 10 consecutive semesters as long as the student maintains full-time continuous enrollment." This means no tuition increases for the incoming freshman at GWU. Tuition increases at the other schools in the top 5 and beyond will easily eclipse the four-year total at GWU. Forbes didn't do it's homework.</p>

12

<p>No one complains on the cost of an Alfa R. But they will complain on the cost on a Camry.</p>