It’s no secret that the rise in the cost of an American college education has outpaced inflation for decades. A compelling summary by FinAid.Org reveals a 1.5 ratio of tuition inflation to general inflation circa 1975; that ratio grew to 2.0 in 2005. According to College Board’s 2010 Trends in Higher Education, the average price of tuition and fees at private non-profit four-year colleges and universities for 2015-16 was $32,405 (this number does not include room and board, and many private schools’ tuition and fees are considerably more). In contrast, the average price of tuition and fees for in-state students at public four-year institutions was $9,410.
College Board’s study points out that public universities’ costs are rising at approximately the same the rate as private colleges. However, the state institution price tag, on an absolute basis, still looks a heck of a lot better to most middle income families than the private college sticker price.
As a college admissions consultant, I ask my client families one straightforward question in our first session: “Are you including public universities in your college list?” It is crucial to get both parents and student on the same page from Day One.
Nothing is more frustrating to a teenager who has been posturing to his or her peers about the prestigious private colleges he or she intends on pursuing, only to be told halfway through the college process that the more likely destination is State U. Many parents do not realize until halfway through the process that they make too much money to qualify for financial aid, but they cannot afford a $200K+ private college tuition, fees, room and board bill for one child.
So I ask the question. I describe the options, as I did in my popular post, “Public versus Private Universities or Liberal Arts Colleges.” A lively, sometimes fiery, discussion follows. There may be disappointment on both sides, if attending an elite private college was a dream for parent or child.
The familiar roles of parent as the “realistic, purse holding, we-know-best dreamstealer,” versus child as the “why not? impractical pipedreamer” painfully kick in now. It is the adolescent’s inevitable confontation with adult reality that feels like some kind of a betrayal. It is the weighty realization that the great college adventure of self-discovery will cost A LOT, and a private education will saddle the young adult with debt or severely impact the parents’ retirement plan.
I listen as the universal play progresses, occasionally offering sober insights like a one-person Greek chorus. I explain that it is a “difficult but necessary conversation,” and it is best for all involved if “it happens earlier rather than later.” During this confrontation, I am grateful for my background in counseling and family therapy!
It is not always a black-and-white decision, and often the family compromises by including public in-state and out-of-state universities, a few more reasonably priced private institutions, or a private school offering merit scholarships that the student may have a good chance at earning. For example, many colleges offer academic merit scholarships to applicants whose academic credentials are slightly higher than the average accepted student at that college, and some offer merit awards for special talents in the performing or visual arts, science or writing.
If a public institution is clearly the way to go, here are some ways to create a more “private school” experience for a highly motivated student:
1. Apply to an honors college within a state university. An honors college is an elite school within a diverse, multi-collegiate institutional setting that includes colleges of arts and sciences, business, and engineering, typically under its own dean, with higher admissions standards. It may be large by private liberal arts college standards, but it certainly creates a “smaller world” than the rest of the university. A quality honors program requires a senior thesis or challenging capstone project. Wikipedia provides a comprehensive list of U.S. honors colleges.
2. Apply to a highly ranked public university. US News & World Report’s 2015 Rankings shows the following public institutions among the top fifty national universities: UC Berkeley, UCLA, U Virginia, U Michigan, UNC Chapel Hill, William & Mary, Georgia Tech, UC San Diego, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, U Washington, U Florida, U Wisconsin Madison, Penn State, and U Illinois Urbana-Champaign. (Some universities are difficult to get into from out of state, such as U Virginia, UNC Chapel Hill, and U Wisconsin Madison.)
3. Apply to an elite, small-sized public school campus. One excellent example is SUNY Geneseo, with 5,600 undergraduates, middle 50% SAT’s of 1290-1380, known as NY’s public honors college or the “Ivy of the SUNY’s.” Another small public gem is The College of NJ, with 6,580 undergraduates and an average SAT of 1270. Both are considered “Best Public School Values” by Kiplingers.
And don’t forget, if your student attends a public university, there will be more money left over for study abroad programs, unpaid internships that may be crucial to building experience in one’s field, graduate school, younger siblings’ education, weddings, empty nest travel, and oh, yes, retirement.
Related reading: Debt-Free U: How I Paid for a College Education without Loans, Scholarships or Mooching Off My Parents by Zac Bissonette; The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price by Lynn O’Shaughnessy; Pay for College without Sacrificing Your Retirement: A Guide to Your Financial Future by Tim Higgins.
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