<p>Quote:
The recognition that families associate price with quality, and that a tuition rise, accompanied by discounts, can lure more applicants and revenue, has helped produce an economy in academe something like that in the health care system, with prices rising faster than inflation but with many consumers paying less than full price. </p>
<p>I think college tuition at Wake is at or near its limit in terms of luring more applicants.</p>
<p>That remains to be seen. Personally - I thought the $50,000 mark would be a deal breaker - and that colleges who chose to cross that line in the sand would see a drop in apps. Nope. Now we are approaching $60,000 - I have no doubt that a number of schools will break the $60,000 barrier in 2011-2012 and more in 2012-13 - Wake among them. Will apps drop? If history is our guide - nope.</p>
<p>“That remains to be seen. Personally - I thought the $50,000 mark would be a deal breaker - and that colleges who chose to cross that line in the sand would see a drop in apps. Nope. Now we are approaching $60,000 - I have no doubt that a number of schools will break the $60,000 barrier in 2011-2012 and more in 2012-13 - Wake among them. Will apps drop? If history is our guide - nope.”</p>
<p>A lot of people said the same thing about housing prices, but that bubble burst.</p>
<p>D2 is at an elite private school now. Although we are already paying their ridiculous rates, they call constantly soliciting donations for their endowment. I think our “donations” are already in the full-pay rates we are charged.</p>
<p>For another approach - check our Sewanee - they just CUT prices by 10%.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/17/sewanee_cuts_its_tuition_by_10_percent[/url]”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/17/sewanee_cuts_its_tuition_by_10_percent</a></p>
<p>stephenandrew - I agree with you that this pricing situation is ridiculous and this bubble should burst - but as long as families closely associate college cost with prestige - not sure.</p>
<p>There is some truth in that. How many parents “dream” of their child going to UVA, Michigan or Berkeley, vs. Harvard, Yale, or Princeton? Still, this pricing structure has to change especially as the economy continues to change.</p>
<p>[Top</a> 50 ‘Best Value’ | News Center | Wake Forest University](<a href=“http://news.wfu.edu/2011/02/22/wake-forest-named-to-princeton-reviews-best-value-list/]Top”>Wake Forest named a 'Best Value' | Wake Forest News)</p>
<p>We love Wake Forest - but a “Best Value”? Not sure I would agree with that conclusion.</p>
<p>Yeah, I kinda :rolleyes: when I saw that news, too.</p>
<p>I have thought it would be useful if some publication analyzed colleges by how much of a full pay tuition goes to pay for someone else’s child. </p>
<p>In addition to WFU, I have a child at another top 15 school that is also my alma mater. So I get to pay two full tuitions. When the development officer at my alma mater was angling for a larger annual donation, I pointed out that I thought about $10,000 of the tuition was a donation that they took and gave to other students (with grades poorer than my son’s). She revealed that I was not the first alumnus, with a child there, to point that out.</p>
<p>The schools make it difficult to obtain the information needed to calculate, but one site says 44% of WFU students get an average of $19,000 in institutional grant aid. Based on that, it would appear that about $15,000 of the full pay tuition is taken and handed to other students. So unless all of those aid students are pulling 3.7 or better averages, I’m paying $15,000 for students who are not working as hard as my child. No, I don’t feel any obligation to donate to WFU.</p>