Judith Scott-Clayton argues that college is not as expensive as it’s thought to be. I’m in the process of buying a car – wish the same would hold true for car sticker prices:
What has been buried in much of the resulting coverage is that while colleges’ published tuition and fees have indeed increased, these so-called “sticker prices” are not all that informative. For the average full-time student, net tuition – which subtracts grants and tax-based aid – is less than half of the published price at private nonprofit four-year schools and less than a third of the published price at the typical public four-year institution.
Moreover, trends in sticker prices and net prices have diverged over the past several years, such that many students are actually paying less now to attend college than they would have five years ago.
Interesting post. I went to Oberlin College back in the early 80s, and it was expensive then–$9k/yr. Now, it’s in the $50k/yr range. $200K for a 4-year degree? Por favor!
Now, as a college educator, I do my best to remind students often of just how much they are paying for when they pay tuition, fees, etc. They pay not just for the time they sit in the room with me or other professors, but for the opportunity to learn, to learn how to learn. THAT is really what they’re paying for–and the sad truth is that often students don’t take full advantage of it all. They have their heads elsewhere.
They come to higher ed too often without the mentality that they are investing in themselves and that however much it costs (great or small the amount may be), it’s an investment that will compound better than any interest.
Personally, I will not let my son go straight from HS to college. He will spend a “gap year” doing something meaningful, hard and laborious–to put it all into the proper perspective. He may hate me for it, but I can take it.