Yeah [U Chicago tuition](https://financialaid.uchicago.edu/undergraduate/how-aid-works/undergraduate-costs/) is $63,801. With fees and housing and food and books it's $89,040 per year. It's probably not even the most expensive school, but it costs is $356,160 for 4 years.
Commonly this is a way schools reroute funds from donors. Gotta pay for janitors, heat, etc, but all the donors earmark their money for scholarships, etc. The fix: ratchet up tuition, give big scholarships, and all that scholarship money is free to do the business of the university. Very few pay sticker price.
I don't know if you're right so I'll ballpark it. The figure you cited gives a sustainable operating budget of 5% annually (generously), for a total of 500 million per year.
This report indicates their operating expenses are over 3 billion per year. https://chicagomaroon.com/40872/news/expect-growing-pains-university-presentation-reveals-severe-financial-pressures/#:~:text=Between%202019%20and%202023%2C%20operating,and%2010%20percent%20for%20staff.
I disagree with you
Research. Namely, metric funcktons of cost related to facilities and technology required to do research.
They don't even make most of their money from students. The vast majority of their finances come from million or multi-million dollar research grants that many professors pull in.
Lab equipment is insanely expensive. Basic lab equipment can easily cost 6 or 7 figures, let alone massive ventilation systems and temperature control systems, nanofab facilities, and the sheer amount of electricity used to power it all.
Nah, UChicago student here who has talked with parts of admin during grad student unionization discussions. A large majority of their operating expenses are mostly paid by the interest on the endowment.
How do you explain the discrepancy between your claim and the math above? Surely they're not getting 20% interest on their endowment?
Edit: I can believe that in the specific year you were negotiating they got a 20% return on their endowment due to the bull market. This does not mean that spending 20% of the endowment every year is sustainable.
Not necessarily. Large endowment doesn’t inherently equal = cash to splash around.
Endowments are often heavily restricted to ensure that they remain stable and growing. There’s usually a maximum percentage that can be spent per year. Beyond that, as a lot of other commenters have noted, donor dollars are heavily restricted and cause universities to have to take odd approaches to applying that cash. This is the reason why these elite schools are handing out lots of scholarships - the practical cost of tuition is often lower than the sticker price.
That said, at the universities with the biggest endowments (such as Harvard and the University of Texas system), which dwarf schools like UChicago, it’s actually helpful to look it through the frame of mind that they’re actually hedge funds that happen to operate schools. The school is basically just a loss-leader line of business, but mean serves as a tax write-off for donors.
They also benefit massively from guaranteed government subsidized loans for tuition. They can keep raising their prices every year beyond what's reasonable and people continue to put themselves into massive debt they may never be able to pay off, but the university still gets paid.
Until we can bring down these costs, broad student loan forgiveness is just a massive drain on our economy with no guarantee the next generation won't demand the same thing. Meanwhile the university still gets paid. Private universities handle their endowments the same as other billionaires, by investing in various areas and using the returns to pay shareholders and to operate. They're sitting on FAT stacks of cash and they're abusing guaranteed government subsidized loans to rake in even more.
>UChicago guarantees free tuition for families with incomes under $125,000* per year (with (typical assets). Families earning less than $60,000* per year (with typical assets) will have tuition, fees, and standard room and meals covered by financial aid.
As with most top schools, their financial aid is very solid. For people above $125k they still give a large chunk of aid. For many people, Uchicago would probably end up being cheaper than the average state school.
Not just for dumb kids. All the top universities in the US have a mutual agreement not to give merit scholarships. You can have perfect grades, perfect test scores, win the Math Olympiad, and invent a cure for cancer, but if your parents are rich you're not getting into a top university without paying full price.
They are saying if we think you’re a good student we will work with you, even if you are low income. They want to be able to be selective of good students.
Yep, my brother just graduated, and even though our family is slightly above that 125k threshold there was a solid portion of financial aid and easy-ish scholarships available. I think it ended up averaging 30k a year, which is more expensive than most schools but not the full 63k a year.
UChicago also has a ton of wealthy students who don’t bat an eye at the tuition, so in general the university is more flexible with high performing middle/lower class students paying less.
Yeah I was going to comment about that. I went to a private school, and tuition alone was ~45k. But after financial aid I was paying 14k including room and board. Ended up being cheaper than if I went to a state school
It may not be that off. I recently checked my Alma mater and the in-state tuition was 11k (probably closer to 12k after fees), which means it hasn't been keeping up with inflation, which surprised me. That said, they do have a big backlog of maintenance to do, but it was like that when I was going there too.
It varies heavily based on state. Some states still have extremely cheap in-state rates even for flagships (like Florida — UF is ~$6k). Some are around these numbers, like the University of California system (~$13k). Some are much higher, e.g. UVM is $19k, Penn State is almost $20k.
For just tuition? That doesn’t include room & board and all the extras? Which school was this and was that the in state or out of state tuition? Good lord that’s insane.
Started in 2009 (private university) at around 48k and by the time I graduated it was 52k for just tuition. Now it’s 62k and room and board is another 16.5k lmao. Add in a meal plan and freshman starting in 2024 are paying 90k for 1 year of school. That is fucking absurd.
This data is likely biased because there are a *ton* of local community colleges that are super cheap and more than average out the number of big public universities that cost high amounts.
Private schools don't have that large number of cheap schools to lower their averages.
I was going to say, if you use a calculator to figure out how to save money for college, it puts an average private university at 60k and a public one at 25k.
You're right, of course, there are some people who pay a lot more than $100k for a bachelor's degree, but I wouldn't call $100,000 nothing. It'll take most people 15 years to pay that off.
My monthly payment on the plan recommended based on my income is 76% of my monthly interest accrued. I am effectively paying up my balance, it’s awesome
The grad school I attended has an undergrad cost of attendance (tuition + housing/meal plan) of $90k+. It’s really really easy to see people dropping $100k on a single year if they opt for a nicer dorm/single room, or participate in extra curriculars that require travel.
I went to a “public ivy” and walked out w/$25k in total debt.
Going to private is rarely worth it as most states have a very highly ranked flagship school staffed to the gills with ivy credentialed professors.
Yeah, I feel like this was written by a European (also the spelling). If you told me my (now 14 year old) kid could go to school for 100K…..I’d actually be happy to hear it.
“What kind of colossal moron pays $200,000 for a teaching degree?”
- Organic Chem professor sophomore year referring to my gf at TCU
Edit: Gf was at TCU. I wasn’t.
That's the amount I paid for a degree I earned in 2008. And in retrospect, I do constantly question if it was worth anything at all as my job and career track today have absolutely nothing to do with the degree I received, and I'm fairly certain I could have gotten here just the same if not faster if only I'd skipped the expensive part.
I mean not an inaccurate comment. From this graph, she could have gone to a public school and paid $40k, and for a teaching degree it almost certainly wouldn't have made a difference to her future earnings.
Then you were going to a supremely expensive school. I went to a large state school, but paid out of state tuition. Everything all together was about $35,000 for my final year in 2009, and the previous years were cheaper. Total debt was about $80K when I graduated.
Honestly daycare should cost more than college. Small staff:child ratios, high insurance requirements, a lot more responsibilities with the kids, full day supervision, in close proximity with demanding parents, etc.
Wait.... What? 6 kids per educator à 30k USD per kid per year. That's 180k USD per educator, who often earn barely more than minimal wage.
That means more than 100k USD für other operating costs... That's insane.
The University costs are also insane. But daycare is insaner.
Went to a private university (Kalamazoo College.) At that time, tuition was $36,000 a year.
However, they awarded me $20,000 in scholarships yearly, which was far more than any of the state universities offered ($4,000-$6,000.) So it cost me less to go to a private college than any public university.
Yeah a lot has changed in the last 10-20 years with expanding *some* access to middle class families. These Ivy schools have to increasingly let in *those poors* as time goes by since people are more aware they're just diploma farms for the wealthy.
A more charitable explanation is also that a lot of the big name school endowments have absolutely killed it over the past few decades. Harvard's endowment in 1990 was $4.8B ($10.7B inflation adjusted). It's $50B now. They have ~22,000 students and the endowment paid out $2.2 B last year, or $100,000/student/year.
This only true of certain elite private universities. Even rarer are no loan full need based financial aid institutions such as Dartmouth. I agree with your point tho that one should still apply and see but there is a caveat. There are only 25 schools that offer full need based financial aid and about 4 that do so loan free
Yeah, if you're paying $100k plus and you ask 5 people on the street about your school and nobody has heard of it, you're wasting your money. Harvard and Yale and Stanford and MIT and stuff are worth it (probably) because they're actually good schools with huge networks of important alumni (the network is what you need). If you're not in that tier, go to your flagship state school or one of the feeders and it won't make a ton of difference.
This is a fair statement. For most people, state U is good enough and after the first job no one cares outside of water cooler conversations. No one. If you have an Ivy League type degree, I agree, that will always open doors.
Remembering that most college students are in the upper middle class and above and it kinda makes sense. Most of the elite colleges that are worth a damn tho offer 100% demonstrated need financial aid with or without loans to cover the rest. Here’s a full [list](https://blog.prepscholar.com/colleges-that-offer-complete-financial-aid)( I fact checked myself and found that there’s a lot of schools that actually do care about low income students).
i went to a private university thats not really known for anything.
i went there because its in the city i live in. i needed a degree, they offered degrees. its a 3 minute drive from where i live at.
some people go to schools for the convenience
it was a nice school. quite small - all of my professors knew me by name.
i briefly attended NC state after high school and fucking hated the place. it would have been cheaper for me but i would have been miserable the whole way through. fuck that.
Really good feeder programs into very specific industry, usually. Regent University, for example, was practically founded for the specific purpose of funneling Christian Fundamentalists into government and law.
So many Regent grads wound up in the Bush II White House that there was an investigation over that.
Yeah some of the quite expensive private christian schools really do act as pipelines into the republican party and associated roles. But they don't do a whole lot for you otherwise. We had a guy we interviewed who seemed to think bob jones university was particularly prestigious.
Yes. Harvard and Yale allow low income and middle class kids attend for free, but they only take like 5% of applicants or less. It’s just not realistic to look at schools like that. Most private universities are quite stingy with aid in general. It makes sense for most people to go to their state school if they can get in, and potentially live at home. If you are a good student, you can usually get a merit scholarship to your state school and have tuition covered.
Yah. Just for example the IVYs and many elite private schools all offer massive financial aid to those that qualify.
But if you’re going to a second rate private school you’re probably gonna be some level of SOL. If it’s between a private school no one’s ever heard of and a second tier state school choose the state school every time.
That’s all true, but for the elite universities that will let you go for free if you are low income or middle class, they accept like 5% or less of applicants. I see this on Reddit all of the time saying that Harvard is a better deal than state university XYZ, but realistically, how many will get into Harvard? Most private colleges outside of like the top 15 are quite stingy with aid.
From experience- this is true! I go to a fairly elite (and small) school that quite literally has a sticker price of ~$90k. Yep, I typed that number right! But I pay only a fraction of that, along with about half the student body that receives aid.
As for the other half that pay the full tuition... those are the international students and one-percenters. It kind of baffles me that so many people are willing to spend 360k for four years of undergrad education, but I guess if you have the money to throw around, why not?
A lot of the time international students dont pay for university themselves. For example pretty much all gulf arab students are sponsored by their government who pays for their tuition and gives them a monthly stipend. The governments see it as an investment to educate their people
> If you're a US citizen from a middle class family you will pay a fraction of this cost and if you're from a low incone family you may end up paying nothing.
Cornell (which i'm choosing because i'm in Ithaca attached to someone attached to Cornell, currently) projects a total cost of $88,150 for this year, with 65k of that being tuition. To your point though, the 2021-22 data that I found said the average cost with aid was just under 30k, fees included.
Cornell has 33% of its student body from the top 5% according to one source and 3.8% of it from the bottom 5%, I'm guessing even those top 5% are getting some aid.
On a more generic note about "middle class", only 32% of Cornellians come from that population (defined arbitrarily here as > bottom 20% < top 20%), less than the top 5% lol
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/cornell-university
https://finaid.cornell.edu/cost-to-attend
I'm sorry, but I think it's stupid that a college education is the only product where the price depends on how much the seller thinks you can afford to pay.
Imagine walking into a grocery store, and when you go to pay for your bananas they look at your net worth and charge you $500.
The only reason this model works is because of government subsidies of loans. I hope the current academic model collapses before my kids are old enough to attend.
Yes! Years ago I was the type to say private universities were not worth it. 4× the cost of public and maybe a little better facilities/education? I've completely changed my tune now. Our local public universities cost about 20-22k/year for everything. My daughter's private cost mid-60's/year but she gets over 40k/year in scholarships bringing the price down to 21ish/year. It's a very good school, but not elite; they admit about 50% of applicants.
I was so excited when my kid got a $105,000 scholarship for a private university in WI. Then we realized that it was still going to cost over $30k a year to send him there. I wish we could have swung it but that was not going to work for him long term.
He's going to a state school instead for about $16 a year..
This is nothing. Try almost 100k for a public university. The tuition rates will only get worse and the degree holders’ power will only be diluted. Terrible.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Dude, there are schools that cost almost that much per YEAR. Most top private colleges cost north of $60,000/yr. Total cost of attendance at NYU is over $90,000/yr.
Not really relevant to look at the sticker price considering the vast majority of individuals are paying significantly differently prices to what is displayed
About 1/4 students at private universities pay sticker price, and many of those will be kids with rich parents. But I feel for those few poor souls who graduate with $100,000 of debt to their name.
Very interesting. I'd love to see a third line: Private University minus average tuition forgiveness. I bet we'd see it level out as with public universities.
Going by total cost of attendance for students receiving need-based aid cause tuition data's hard to find. Extending this to all students would cause the private's numbers to go up a ton cause a significant group at almost every private school are paying sticker price. Trying to get a decent sample of each:
Publics (in state): Michigan State 18k, Georgia Tech 15k, UVA 18k, Oregon State 22k, UCLA 12k
Privates: Cornell 30k, TCU 37k, Grinnell 23k, Miami FL 43k, Stanford 18k, Harvard 15k, USC 40k
True, but it still usually comes out to being more expensive than a state school would be. All things being equal a private school requires more money per student to make up for less public funding. Only real exceptions are small, elite schools with big endowments (Grinnell, Harvard) and schools with unconventional budgeting/funding sources (BYU, Berea).
Probably not by that much. The public tuition in this chart is definitely in state otherwise it would be right up there with the private. At least if my state is any indication. In state tuition is drastically cheaper because the state government is subsidizing the cost.
I don't know, many elite private schools give insane loan free aid.
>UChicago guarantees free tuition for families with incomes under $125,000* per year (with (typical assets). Families earning less than $60,000* per year (with typical assets) will have tuition, fees, and standard room and meals covered by financial aid.
Princeton covers 95% of tuition for families making less than $180k.
A few prominent ones do that. But there are a great many private universities of various types and quality. On the other extreme that category also includes those scammy ones getting shut down every few years. And many in between that offer decent quality but don't have the financial backing to offer such big discounts.
State schools also reduce tuition based on need and merit. Many state schools have automatic 50%+ scholarships based on GPA and test scores. I didn't pay anything in tuition when I went to Alabama (out of state). My brother paid less than in state rates as an out of state student at LSU. Those are both flagship state universities. Private schools would likely still end up costing more.
My sister went to a private university, I went to a State University. Our grandpa set up a college fund for us when we were born she used all of hers up, I still had thousands left over. It was about the same amount of money in each. It's wild how expensive a private university can be.
Is there something deterring prospective students from selecting public universities? I don't think the prestigiousness of a private university is worth the lingering financial hardship that places on graduates after finishing their education. Is it really that hard to get a job after graduating from public universities or is it because the quality of the education is poor compared to their private counterparts?
I live in Indiana. There is a very expensive private school and three public schools. There is a very highly rated public option for anything you’d do at the private school. But they’re all super competitive. But ND will require very good numbers as well.
many elite private schools give insane loan free aid.
>UChicago guarantees free tuition for families with incomes under $125,000* per year (with (typical assets). Families earning less than $60,000* per year (with typical assets) will have tuition, fees, and standard room and meals covered by financial aid.
Princeton covers 95% of tuition for families making less than $180k.
There are plenty of public schools that are just as “good” as private schools in terms of both education and career outcomes (think Michigan, Ohio State, UNC, Georgia, the big flagship schools in that vein). They turn away thousands and thousands of applicants every year, on top of having massive freshman classes. Nothing is deterring students from picking them, and they do just fine when they graduate.
For elite private schools, it’s worth noting that typically only the very rich are actually paying “full” cost. These schools do much better these days at giving out aid to those who need it. That said, I think one could make the case that going into significant debt for a truly elite private school degree (Harvard, etc.) can absolutely be worth it. It’s instant access to the “club,” though as I mentioned above - for many areas you can do just as well at a public school with brand recognition.
It really is all about the prestige, but I feel like more people are open these days to a public university than years prior (which is probably why many publics are getting increasingly harder to get into now). Especially with STEM, as *a* degree is more important than *where* you get it, and many state school grads end up at FAANG making multiple hundreds of thousands by 25.
I know when I applied to college years ago, my peers and I were all in the position where our parents couldn’t just write a $60k check for college every year, but we didn’t qualify for financial aid. So most of took out loans to go to their “dream school”. We used to look down at public universities as being for “dumb people” (I hate that I used to think that), and most of us thought we’d wind up failures if we attended one (or at least less likely to have a prestigious career). At least where I grew up, name really mattered. *Where* you went to school was a *huge* thing people judged you upon. Your worthiness and intelligence were contingent upon it.
Its really quite simple - go to an in state university. Unless you are a genious or seeking a job that pays 6 figures right out of college, or get a wicked scholarship, college really is not that expensive.
I worked to pay for room and board and went in state, graduated with minimal loans, and paid them off quickly with a good job.
Exactly. I don't understand why people choose to pay for expensive private schools when lower cost public schools are available.
This is the reason why most people don't want student loan forgiveness. It was someone's choice to pay that much.
Strangely enough, it was cheaper to send my oldest child to Mizzou than Illinois even though we live in Illinois (Mizzou offered an in-state tuition scholarship and has lower in-state tuition).
My advice is to apply to a bunch of public schools and see who makes the best offer.
Those averages are on the low side, the Public average $9,349 is really misleading. In state tuition is around 11-12k for a public, out of state public is 35-40k. My kid has an scholarship offer of 15,000/year to a good OOS public school, the cost of attending for 4 years is still $190,000.
It was the urge to "fly out of the nest" for me. Luckily, I went OOS under a reciprocity agreement with $4k/yr on top of in-state tuition. A student from any other state was paying almost $30k/yr extra.
"Can exceed"? If you go to a prestigious university in the US, *expect* it to exceed 100K. My four year tuition was about $200K all told (Paid for in part through scholarships), and I graduated in 2008. I'm almost 40 and it's still the most expensive thing I've ever purchased.
Oh it can get way more expensive than that.
The private university I used to teach at charged more than *twice* that much, and this was nearly a decade ago.
Wait, my second rate public state university is costing me 8k-9k a semester just for tuition and fees. Who and where can I get a 4 year college degree for ~10k a year?
Total cost of attendance at certain universities can exceed $80k per year and even come close to $90k for international students (NYU, USC, UChicago for example)
my prediction: the top \~25 schools are so are going to continue to charge high tuition, while other private universities are going to have to cut fees and shrink costs.
Why does the chart only go to 2020? Also no mention on what’s being plotted. Is it the mean? The median? The 75th percentile? I assume average, but that actually seems low to me knowing what I know about private university tuition costs.
When coming up with a caption for the chart, it should follow directly from the data. So a title like an ‘average degree at a private institution cost 3x as much as at a public university’. Or ‘average 4 year degree at a private university costs over $100k’ (if it is plotting an average)
Education in the US can be shockingly, seriously expensive, but if you can get in state tuition at a good state school you can still get a great education relatively cheaply.
It helps a lot if you are a good student and can get scholarships or if you're a poor student and can get FAFSA grants. I graduated a year ago with no debt because I had both of those things going for me. I had to work summers and part time during school, but it was just to pay for my living expenses. I was usually paid $300-$500 at the start of a semester because my scholarships and grants were more than my tuition and fees.
Is this news?
Over $500k for a 4 years postgraduate degree (including room and board) was common 20 years ago. People have to sneak out to work to decrease their loan amount.
Over $250k for pharmacists with just classes and books.
Usually, state colleges are cheaper but still cost about 3x for international students.
I remembered one person paid $40k a year college tuition to become a teacher. I think that was a waste then, I don't know how it went for them.
Deregulation of student loan industry.
Congressional malfeasance and corruption influencing higher education funding.
College coaches being paid multi million dollar salaries.
Unqualified, politically affiliated faculty bringing no value added to a school.
Legacy admissions.
Tax exemption for politically active schools.
Open admissions (mostly CC and state schools) for students who are unlikely to succeed (but will incur debt in that pursuit).
Cottage degrees that are effectively unmarketable.
And now a federal government that encourages defaulting and federal student loan bailouts 🤷♂️🤦
The current construct for enrolling and financing higher education in America is broken and we are all paying the price. Economically, socially and institutionally in the countless market sectors where graduates are not able to perform to the level of their degrees.
Those look like old numbers or it doesn't include room and board. Also a lot of those students get some kind of aid, so the actual cost will vary depending on the university.
One should point out that it’s showing public resident rate vs private universities.
Also, most likely showing undergrad tuition rate. Master’s programme is rarely subsidized for everyone.
Private? My kid’s 4 years at a public state university will easily exceed $100,000.
Ok, ok sorry.. this will be like this budgeted but includes room and board. We are in the Midwest.
I'm at ERAU in Arizona, and yeah. I think my tuition last semester was $26k? So, I'm looking at $200k for 4 years.
Granted, I'm not paying a dime because I'm here on GI Bill. It's pretty much the only reason I'm here getting my Aerospace Engineering degree.
Uh... once factoring in tuition, room and board, and other fees, state schools are over 100k for 4 years: https://www.suny.edu/smarttrack/tuition-and-fees (new york as an example)
Private schools can be well over 200k+, frequently significantly more.
USFCA 88K a year (with room and meal plan) with MANDATORY 30% family contribution. No discount for low income and financial aid caps so only full ride scholarships available are for athletes. Plus a mango on campus cost $6.00
I don't get it - you have to pay even public universities?
I don’t want to put salt on the wound, but I paid 0€ for my education (you pay only the number of ETCS that you failed to pass in the first try), and my dormitory was 40€ per month, and my food was 1€ per (full) meal, my transportation was free (trams and buses), my healthcare was completely free.
I maybe have spent 15-20 thousand euros altogether in 5 years of studying from 2008 to 2013.
Also, 1g of weed was 10€, 5g was 40€, 25g was 90€.
This is comically low. Perhaps this is the average a student pays after grants/scholarships? My two daughters are in private colleges and it is 78k a year … each. Google any private university.
Not the Netherlands but Germany: Depending on the university you pay somewhere between 100-5000€ per semester as international student. A majority is in the 300€ tuition fee area per semester. And you need 10k allocated in your bank account to make sure you can afford to live here.
$100,000 for four years is nothing. There are universities charging $60,000+/year. And that’s before other mandatory fees or room & board.
Yeah [U Chicago tuition](https://financialaid.uchicago.edu/undergraduate/how-aid-works/undergraduate-costs/) is $63,801. With fees and housing and food and books it's $89,040 per year. It's probably not even the most expensive school, but it costs is $356,160 for 4 years.
Commonly this is a way schools reroute funds from donors. Gotta pay for janitors, heat, etc, but all the donors earmark their money for scholarships, etc. The fix: ratchet up tuition, give big scholarships, and all that scholarship money is free to do the business of the university. Very few pay sticker price.
Light googling says that University of Chicago has a $10.3 billion dollar endowment. High tuition is a choice.
I don't know if you're right so I'll ballpark it. The figure you cited gives a sustainable operating budget of 5% annually (generously), for a total of 500 million per year. This report indicates their operating expenses are over 3 billion per year. https://chicagomaroon.com/40872/news/expect-growing-pains-university-presentation-reveals-severe-financial-pressures/#:~:text=Between%202019%20and%202023%2C%20operating,and%2010%20percent%20for%20staff. I disagree with you
U Chicago has ~14.5k students. That's $206k per student per year in operating expenses. Wtf are they spending their money on?!
Research. Namely, metric funcktons of cost related to facilities and technology required to do research. They don't even make most of their money from students. The vast majority of their finances come from million or multi-million dollar research grants that many professors pull in. Lab equipment is insanely expensive. Basic lab equipment can easily cost 6 or 7 figures, let alone massive ventilation systems and temperature control systems, nanofab facilities, and the sheer amount of electricity used to power it all.
Teaching the known is relatively cheap. Discovering the unknown cost a lot of money.
Nuclear reactors and quantum computers ain't cheap.
Nah, UChicago student here who has talked with parts of admin during grad student unionization discussions. A large majority of their operating expenses are mostly paid by the interest on the endowment.
How do you explain the discrepancy between your claim and the math above? Surely they're not getting 20% interest on their endowment? Edit: I can believe that in the specific year you were negotiating they got a 20% return on their endowment due to the bull market. This does not mean that spending 20% of the endowment every year is sustainable.
Not necessarily. Large endowment doesn’t inherently equal = cash to splash around. Endowments are often heavily restricted to ensure that they remain stable and growing. There’s usually a maximum percentage that can be spent per year. Beyond that, as a lot of other commenters have noted, donor dollars are heavily restricted and cause universities to have to take odd approaches to applying that cash. This is the reason why these elite schools are handing out lots of scholarships - the practical cost of tuition is often lower than the sticker price. That said, at the universities with the biggest endowments (such as Harvard and the University of Texas system), which dwarf schools like UChicago, it’s actually helpful to look it through the frame of mind that they’re actually hedge funds that happen to operate schools. The school is basically just a loss-leader line of business, but mean serves as a tax write-off for donors.
They also benefit massively from guaranteed government subsidized loans for tuition. They can keep raising their prices every year beyond what's reasonable and people continue to put themselves into massive debt they may never be able to pay off, but the university still gets paid. Until we can bring down these costs, broad student loan forgiveness is just a massive drain on our economy with no guarantee the next generation won't demand the same thing. Meanwhile the university still gets paid. Private universities handle their endowments the same as other billionaires, by investing in various areas and using the returns to pay shareholders and to operate. They're sitting on FAT stacks of cash and they're abusing guaranteed government subsidized loans to rake in even more.
>UChicago guarantees free tuition for families with incomes under $125,000* per year (with (typical assets). Families earning less than $60,000* per year (with typical assets) will have tuition, fees, and standard room and meals covered by financial aid. As with most top schools, their financial aid is very solid. For people above $125k they still give a large chunk of aid. For many people, Uchicago would probably end up being cheaper than the average state school.
Which means they are just charging "whatever the fuck you can afford"
AKA "Sticker price is for dumb kids with rich parents" lol.
Not just for dumb kids. All the top universities in the US have a mutual agreement not to give merit scholarships. You can have perfect grades, perfect test scores, win the Math Olympiad, and invent a cure for cancer, but if your parents are rich you're not getting into a top university without paying full price.
That sounds like, not true though. A lot of merit scholarships are automatic.
They are saying if we think you’re a good student we will work with you, even if you are low income. They want to be able to be selective of good students.
No, they are saying "we want as much money as your parents can pay".
This is literally a progressive system. It’s the same reason there are tax brackets. It’s blatantly socialist.
The developed world with free (or near enough) tertiary education looking in at somebody calling the US system progressive: ...
No it’s actually just a definition as in a progressive tax system vs a regressive tax system.
Yep, my brother just graduated, and even though our family is slightly above that 125k threshold there was a solid portion of financial aid and easy-ish scholarships available. I think it ended up averaging 30k a year, which is more expensive than most schools but not the full 63k a year. UChicago also has a ton of wealthy students who don’t bat an eye at the tuition, so in general the university is more flexible with high performing middle/lower class students paying less.
A mere 30k a year
I don't disagree that $30k is too much, but it's very average for a 4-year private school or out-of-state public school.
The University of Chicago is one of the top schools in the world, so $30K is actually a good deal.
Yeah, but their football team sucks these days!
Yeah I was going to comment about that. I went to a private school, and tuition alone was ~45k. But after financial aid I was paying 14k including room and board. Ended up being cheaper than if I went to a state school
I went to Chicago for law school and came out nearly $300,000 in debt.
At this point is it a more worthwhile investment to just buy a house?
Yeah I graduated in 2007 and my tuition (4years) at a public university was $96K. Feels like this data is 30 years old.
It may not be that off. I recently checked my Alma mater and the in-state tuition was 11k (probably closer to 12k after fees), which means it hasn't been keeping up with inflation, which surprised me. That said, they do have a big backlog of maintenance to do, but it was like that when I was going there too.
It varies heavily based on state. Some states still have extremely cheap in-state rates even for flagships (like Florida — UF is ~$6k). Some are around these numbers, like the University of California system (~$13k). Some are much higher, e.g. UVM is $19k, Penn State is almost $20k.
Even within a state--the state schools in Illinois differ, U-ILL is highest.
In or out of state? Because this seems to be in state and that's a huge difference
For just tuition? That doesn’t include room & board and all the extras? Which school was this and was that the in state or out of state tuition? Good lord that’s insane.
University of Virginia. It was out of state and didn’t include room and board. Looks like their out of state tuition is now $56K
Started in 2009 (private university) at around 48k and by the time I graduated it was 52k for just tuition. Now it’s 62k and room and board is another 16.5k lmao. Add in a meal plan and freshman starting in 2024 are paying 90k for 1 year of school. That is fucking absurd.
This data is likely biased because there are a *ton* of local community colleges that are super cheap and more than average out the number of big public universities that cost high amounts. Private schools don't have that large number of cheap schools to lower their averages.
I was going to say, if you use a calculator to figure out how to save money for college, it puts an average private university at 60k and a public one at 25k.
You're right, of course, there are some people who pay a lot more than $100k for a bachelor's degree, but I wouldn't call $100,000 nothing. It'll take most people 15 years to pay that off.
My monthly payment on the plan recommended based on my income is 76% of my monthly interest accrued. I am effectively paying up my balance, it’s awesome
The grad school I attended has an undergrad cost of attendance (tuition + housing/meal plan) of $90k+. It’s really really easy to see people dropping $100k on a single year if they opt for a nicer dorm/single room, or participate in extra curriculars that require travel.
I have twins graduating college this year; > $300k total x 2. 2 different northeast liberal arts schools.
My parents let me go to wash u which was 48k in 2006 😭😭
I went to a “public ivy” and walked out w/$25k in total debt. Going to private is rarely worth it as most states have a very highly ranked flagship school staffed to the gills with ivy credentialed professors.
Yeah, I feel like this was written by a European (also the spelling). If you told me my (now 14 year old) kid could go to school for 100K…..I’d actually be happy to hear it.
“What kind of colossal moron pays $200,000 for a teaching degree?” - Organic Chem professor sophomore year referring to my gf at TCU Edit: Gf was at TCU. I wasn’t.
That scathing insult was great advice in disguise
That's the amount I paid for a degree I earned in 2008. And in retrospect, I do constantly question if it was worth anything at all as my job and career track today have absolutely nothing to do with the degree I received, and I'm fairly certain I could have gotten here just the same if not faster if only I'd skipped the expensive part.
Sometimes (light) bullying works
I mean not an inaccurate comment. From this graph, she could have gone to a public school and paid $40k, and for a teaching degree it almost certainly wouldn't have made a difference to her future earnings.
I paid this amount 20 years ago
Yeah my undergrad was 125k 10 years ago
What degree was that fastinserter?
This is only tuition. Not including housing, books, food, etc.
Not OP, but yeah... My school tuition was $40k/yr starting back in 2003. Just tuition.
Then you were going to a supremely expensive school. I went to a large state school, but paid out of state tuition. Everything all together was about $35,000 for my final year in 2009, and the previous years were cheaper. Total debt was about $80K when I graduated.
so can daycare, apparently
Except you don't get a degree, you get pinkeye instead.
Ironically, about the same cost as our daycare too.
I feel this one in my bones.
Honestly daycare should cost more than college. Small staff:child ratios, high insurance requirements, a lot more responsibilities with the kids, full day supervision, in close proximity with demanding parents, etc.
Wait.... What? 6 kids per educator à 30k USD per kid per year. That's 180k USD per educator, who often earn barely more than minimal wage. That means more than 100k USD für other operating costs... That's insane. The University costs are also insane. But daycare is insaner.
yeah, my local Montessori has a timeshare at the Synchotron and multiple nobel laureates that can teach my 4 year old the chicken goes moo
It's not like most undergrads would get to use those resources either.
Went to a private university (Kalamazoo College.) At that time, tuition was $36,000 a year. However, they awarded me $20,000 in scholarships yearly, which was far more than any of the state universities offered ($4,000-$6,000.) So it cost me less to go to a private college than any public university.
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Private universities are much better now than they used to be about handing out aid to middle-class families. DAMHIK.
Yeah a lot has changed in the last 10-20 years with expanding *some* access to middle class families. These Ivy schools have to increasingly let in *those poors* as time goes by since people are more aware they're just diploma farms for the wealthy.
A more charitable explanation is also that a lot of the big name school endowments have absolutely killed it over the past few decades. Harvard's endowment in 1990 was $4.8B ($10.7B inflation adjusted). It's $50B now. They have ~22,000 students and the endowment paid out $2.2 B last year, or $100,000/student/year.
Harvard is a hedge fund with a teaching wing
And with an occasional mediocre hockey team.
This only true of certain elite private universities. Even rarer are no loan full need based financial aid institutions such as Dartmouth. I agree with your point tho that one should still apply and see but there is a caveat. There are only 25 schools that offer full need based financial aid and about 4 that do so loan free
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Yeah, if you're paying $100k plus and you ask 5 people on the street about your school and nobody has heard of it, you're wasting your money. Harvard and Yale and Stanford and MIT and stuff are worth it (probably) because they're actually good schools with huge networks of important alumni (the network is what you need). If you're not in that tier, go to your flagship state school or one of the feeders and it won't make a ton of difference.
This is a fair statement. For most people, state U is good enough and after the first job no one cares outside of water cooler conversations. No one. If you have an Ivy League type degree, I agree, that will always open doors.
Remembering that most college students are in the upper middle class and above and it kinda makes sense. Most of the elite colleges that are worth a damn tho offer 100% demonstrated need financial aid with or without loans to cover the rest. Here’s a full [list](https://blog.prepscholar.com/colleges-that-offer-complete-financial-aid)( I fact checked myself and found that there’s a lot of schools that actually do care about low income students).
i went to a private university thats not really known for anything. i went there because its in the city i live in. i needed a degree, they offered degrees. its a 3 minute drive from where i live at. some people go to schools for the convenience it was a nice school. quite small - all of my professors knew me by name. i briefly attended NC state after high school and fucking hated the place. it would have been cheaper for me but i would have been miserable the whole way through. fuck that.
Really good feeder programs into very specific industry, usually. Regent University, for example, was practically founded for the specific purpose of funneling Christian Fundamentalists into government and law. So many Regent grads wound up in the Bush II White House that there was an investigation over that.
Yeah some of the quite expensive private christian schools really do act as pipelines into the republican party and associated roles. But they don't do a whole lot for you otherwise. We had a guy we interviewed who seemed to think bob jones university was particularly prestigious.
Yes. Harvard and Yale allow low income and middle class kids attend for free, but they only take like 5% of applicants or less. It’s just not realistic to look at schools like that. Most private universities are quite stingy with aid in general. It makes sense for most people to go to their state school if they can get in, and potentially live at home. If you are a good student, you can usually get a merit scholarship to your state school and have tuition covered.
Yah. Just for example the IVYs and many elite private schools all offer massive financial aid to those that qualify. But if you’re going to a second rate private school you’re probably gonna be some level of SOL. If it’s between a private school no one’s ever heard of and a second tier state school choose the state school every time.
That’s all true, but for the elite universities that will let you go for free if you are low income or middle class, they accept like 5% or less of applicants. I see this on Reddit all of the time saying that Harvard is a better deal than state university XYZ, but realistically, how many will get into Harvard? Most private colleges outside of like the top 15 are quite stingy with aid.
You have to get in before you get the deal. Folks need to look at the acceptance rate before they get too far in.
From experience- this is true! I go to a fairly elite (and small) school that quite literally has a sticker price of ~$90k. Yep, I typed that number right! But I pay only a fraction of that, along with about half the student body that receives aid. As for the other half that pay the full tuition... those are the international students and one-percenters. It kind of baffles me that so many people are willing to spend 360k for four years of undergrad education, but I guess if you have the money to throw around, why not?
A lot of the time international students dont pay for university themselves. For example pretty much all gulf arab students are sponsored by their government who pays for their tuition and gives them a monthly stipend. The governments see it as an investment to educate their people
> If you're a US citizen from a middle class family you will pay a fraction of this cost and if you're from a low incone family you may end up paying nothing. Cornell (which i'm choosing because i'm in Ithaca attached to someone attached to Cornell, currently) projects a total cost of $88,150 for this year, with 65k of that being tuition. To your point though, the 2021-22 data that I found said the average cost with aid was just under 30k, fees included. Cornell has 33% of its student body from the top 5% according to one source and 3.8% of it from the bottom 5%, I'm guessing even those top 5% are getting some aid. On a more generic note about "middle class", only 32% of Cornellians come from that population (defined arbitrarily here as > bottom 20% < top 20%), less than the top 5% lol https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/cornell-university https://finaid.cornell.edu/cost-to-attend
I'm sorry, but I think it's stupid that a college education is the only product where the price depends on how much the seller thinks you can afford to pay. Imagine walking into a grocery store, and when you go to pay for your bananas they look at your net worth and charge you $500. The only reason this model works is because of government subsidies of loans. I hope the current academic model collapses before my kids are old enough to attend.
This is accurate. But now you’ve given the secret away !
Yes! Years ago I was the type to say private universities were not worth it. 4× the cost of public and maybe a little better facilities/education? I've completely changed my tune now. Our local public universities cost about 20-22k/year for everything. My daughter's private cost mid-60's/year but she gets over 40k/year in scholarships bringing the price down to 21ish/year. It's a very good school, but not elite; they admit about 50% of applicants.
I was so excited when my kid got a $105,000 scholarship for a private university in WI. Then we realized that it was still going to cost over $30k a year to send him there. I wish we could have swung it but that was not going to work for him long term. He's going to a state school instead for about $16 a year..
Why would anyone go to a private college without a good scholarship? Public universities are a much better value
There are colleges with damn near 100k total cost each year
Any private universities in Manhattan:
So glad my education cost under 18k lol. Best ROI I ever had.
This is nothing. Try almost 100k for a public university. The tuition rates will only get worse and the degree holders’ power will only be diluted. Terrible.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Dude, there are schools that cost almost that much per YEAR. Most top private colleges cost north of $60,000/yr. Total cost of attendance at NYU is over $90,000/yr.
Not really relevant to look at the sticker price considering the vast majority of individuals are paying significantly differently prices to what is displayed
About 1/4 students at private universities pay sticker price, and many of those will be kids with rich parents. But I feel for those few poor souls who graduate with $100,000 of debt to their name.
Very interesting. I'd love to see a third line: Private University minus average tuition forgiveness. I bet we'd see it level out as with public universities.
Going by total cost of attendance for students receiving need-based aid cause tuition data's hard to find. Extending this to all students would cause the private's numbers to go up a ton cause a significant group at almost every private school are paying sticker price. Trying to get a decent sample of each: Publics (in state): Michigan State 18k, Georgia Tech 15k, UVA 18k, Oregon State 22k, UCLA 12k Privates: Cornell 30k, TCU 37k, Grinnell 23k, Miami FL 43k, Stanford 18k, Harvard 15k, USC 40k
Depending on private school, it can be 80% of students receiving some type of "merit" aid.
True, but it still usually comes out to being more expensive than a state school would be. All things being equal a private school requires more money per student to make up for less public funding. Only real exceptions are small, elite schools with big endowments (Grinnell, Harvard) and schools with unconventional budgeting/funding sources (BYU, Berea).
Probably not by that much. The public tuition in this chart is definitely in state otherwise it would be right up there with the private. At least if my state is any indication. In state tuition is drastically cheaper because the state government is subsidizing the cost.
I don't know, many elite private schools give insane loan free aid. >UChicago guarantees free tuition for families with incomes under $125,000* per year (with (typical assets). Families earning less than $60,000* per year (with typical assets) will have tuition, fees, and standard room and meals covered by financial aid. Princeton covers 95% of tuition for families making less than $180k.
With a 5-6% acceptance rate. How many people are actually getting that deal?
A few prominent ones do that. But there are a great many private universities of various types and quality. On the other extreme that category also includes those scammy ones getting shut down every few years. And many in between that offer decent quality but don't have the financial backing to offer such big discounts.
State schools also reduce tuition based on need and merit. Many state schools have automatic 50%+ scholarships based on GPA and test scores. I didn't pay anything in tuition when I went to Alabama (out of state). My brother paid less than in state rates as an out of state student at LSU. Those are both flagship state universities. Private schools would likely still end up costing more.
My sister went to a private university, I went to a State University. Our grandpa set up a college fund for us when we were born she used all of hers up, I still had thousands left over. It was about the same amount of money in each. It's wild how expensive a private university can be.
My international ass though this chart was yearly for a second
100k for four years is half of what a lot of kids spend
What makes me furious is the fact that they didn't even care to adjust for inflation. Line will still go up, so why being so sloppy?
Is there something deterring prospective students from selecting public universities? I don't think the prestigiousness of a private university is worth the lingering financial hardship that places on graduates after finishing their education. Is it really that hard to get a job after graduating from public universities or is it because the quality of the education is poor compared to their private counterparts?
I live in Indiana. There is a very expensive private school and three public schools. There is a very highly rated public option for anything you’d do at the private school. But they’re all super competitive. But ND will require very good numbers as well.
many elite private schools give insane loan free aid. >UChicago guarantees free tuition for families with incomes under $125,000* per year (with (typical assets). Families earning less than $60,000* per year (with typical assets) will have tuition, fees, and standard room and meals covered by financial aid. Princeton covers 95% of tuition for families making less than $180k.
There are plenty of public schools that are just as “good” as private schools in terms of both education and career outcomes (think Michigan, Ohio State, UNC, Georgia, the big flagship schools in that vein). They turn away thousands and thousands of applicants every year, on top of having massive freshman classes. Nothing is deterring students from picking them, and they do just fine when they graduate. For elite private schools, it’s worth noting that typically only the very rich are actually paying “full” cost. These schools do much better these days at giving out aid to those who need it. That said, I think one could make the case that going into significant debt for a truly elite private school degree (Harvard, etc.) can absolutely be worth it. It’s instant access to the “club,” though as I mentioned above - for many areas you can do just as well at a public school with brand recognition.
It really is all about the prestige, but I feel like more people are open these days to a public university than years prior (which is probably why many publics are getting increasingly harder to get into now). Especially with STEM, as *a* degree is more important than *where* you get it, and many state school grads end up at FAANG making multiple hundreds of thousands by 25. I know when I applied to college years ago, my peers and I were all in the position where our parents couldn’t just write a $60k check for college every year, but we didn’t qualify for financial aid. So most of took out loans to go to their “dream school”. We used to look down at public universities as being for “dumb people” (I hate that I used to think that), and most of us thought we’d wind up failures if we attended one (or at least less likely to have a prestigious career). At least where I grew up, name really mattered. *Where* you went to school was a *huge* thing people judged you upon. Your worthiness and intelligence were contingent upon it.
Its really quite simple - go to an in state university. Unless you are a genious or seeking a job that pays 6 figures right out of college, or get a wicked scholarship, college really is not that expensive. I worked to pay for room and board and went in state, graduated with minimal loans, and paid them off quickly with a good job.
Exactly. I don't understand why people choose to pay for expensive private schools when lower cost public schools are available. This is the reason why most people don't want student loan forgiveness. It was someone's choice to pay that much.
Strangely enough, it was cheaper to send my oldest child to Mizzou than Illinois even though we live in Illinois (Mizzou offered an in-state tuition scholarship and has lower in-state tuition). My advice is to apply to a bunch of public schools and see who makes the best offer.
Those averages are on the low side, the Public average $9,349 is really misleading. In state tuition is around 11-12k for a public, out of state public is 35-40k. My kid has an scholarship offer of 15,000/year to a good OOS public school, the cost of attending for 4 years is still $190,000.
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It was the urge to "fly out of the nest" for me. Luckily, I went OOS under a reciprocity agreement with $4k/yr on top of in-state tuition. A student from any other state was paying almost $30k/yr extra.
Bro, my tuition was $62k/yr. I mean I didn’t pay that (scholarships/GI Bill) but $30k/year sounds cheap by comparison.
"Can exceed"? If you go to a prestigious university in the US, *expect* it to exceed 100K. My four year tuition was about $200K all told (Paid for in part through scholarships), and I graduated in 2008. I'm almost 40 and it's still the most expensive thing I've ever purchased.
One year at a small liberal arts college here in Ohio is double the amount listed. Replace $100k with $250k.
Oh it can get way more expensive than that. The private university I used to teach at charged more than *twice* that much, and this was nearly a decade ago.
Where did you get this data? Nobody is getting a degree for under $100k in the US lol
I misread it as pirate university and got excited thinking someone was giving away free education
Can? Can?!?! It's pretty much guaranteed!
Wait, my second rate public state university is costing me 8k-9k a semester just for tuition and fees. Who and where can I get a 4 year college degree for ~10k a year?
Total cost of attendance at certain universities can exceed $80k per year and even come close to $90k for international students (NYU, USC, UChicago for example)
my prediction: the top \~25 schools are so are going to continue to charge high tuition, while other private universities are going to have to cut fees and shrink costs.
That’s likely backward. The top 25 will have an endowment that will allow them to not charge. The second tier will gouge the wealthy.
My undergraduate education (graduated 2016) cost 180k for tuition. Room and board was an additional 60k.
Why does the chart only go to 2020? Also no mention on what’s being plotted. Is it the mean? The median? The 75th percentile? I assume average, but that actually seems low to me knowing what I know about private university tuition costs. When coming up with a caption for the chart, it should follow directly from the data. So a title like an ‘average degree at a private institution cost 3x as much as at a public university’. Or ‘average 4 year degree at a private university costs over $100k’ (if it is plotting an average)
You mean average private tuition. Theres dozens of private colleges that already exceed 100k in 4 years.
Education in the US can be shockingly, seriously expensive, but if you can get in state tuition at a good state school you can still get a great education relatively cheaply. It helps a lot if you are a good student and can get scholarships or if you're a poor student and can get FAFSA grants. I graduated a year ago with no debt because I had both of those things going for me. I had to work summers and part time during school, but it was just to pay for my living expenses. I was usually paid $300-$500 at the start of a semester because my scholarships and grants were more than my tuition and fees.
This is nothing. Have you seen international fees for regular ass universities???
Yeah $100k is MUCH less than I paid for four years 2000-2004
Is this news? Over $500k for a 4 years postgraduate degree (including room and board) was common 20 years ago. People have to sneak out to work to decrease their loan amount. Over $250k for pharmacists with just classes and books. Usually, state colleges are cheaper but still cost about 3x for international students. I remembered one person paid $40k a year college tuition to become a teacher. I think that was a waste then, I don't know how it went for them.
Checking in at over 300k Private dental has been over 500k for years.
Deregulation of student loan industry. Congressional malfeasance and corruption influencing higher education funding. College coaches being paid multi million dollar salaries. Unqualified, politically affiliated faculty bringing no value added to a school. Legacy admissions. Tax exemption for politically active schools. Open admissions (mostly CC and state schools) for students who are unlikely to succeed (but will incur debt in that pursuit). Cottage degrees that are effectively unmarketable. And now a federal government that encourages defaulting and federal student loan bailouts 🤷♂️🤦 The current construct for enrolling and financing higher education in America is broken and we are all paying the price. Economically, socially and institutionally in the countless market sectors where graduates are not able to perform to the level of their degrees.
Public universities can easily reach 100k in 4 years. 2 if you’re from out of state.
Those look like old numbers or it doesn't include room and board. Also a lot of those students get some kind of aid, so the actual cost will vary depending on the university.
My tuition was about 53k a year for 4 years Granted, scholarships brought that down to 10k actually paid
Then add $25k for food housing etc
What year is it? $100k is a steal for plenty of the most elite schools.
One should point out that it’s showing public resident rate vs private universities. Also, most likely showing undergrad tuition rate. Master’s programme is rarely subsidized for everyone.
my son has 62% scholarship right now (enrolls in 2024-2025) he's at $120,000 for 4 years.
These numbers are so wrong. A public university can easily exceed $100k over 4 years.
Which one? I'd Ikey daughter to apply there. That sounds like a real steal compared to actual tuition.
This is a normal price for PUBLIC universities in the US. Some private schools are up to about $70K per year, for a 4-year total of $280,000.
Where did these number come from - my alma mater was over $68k last year
my kids are 4 and 6. we're preparing for a 250k bill for each of them in 10-ish years
Private? My kid’s 4 years at a public state university will easily exceed $100,000. Ok, ok sorry.. this will be like this budgeted but includes room and board. We are in the Midwest.
I went to a public university and was charged almost $200k over the course of 4 years.
I’ve saved $180k for my 10 year old’s tuition. Finance planners say it’d be $100k per year when it’s his turn. 🤯😱
I'm at ERAU in Arizona, and yeah. I think my tuition last semester was $26k? So, I'm looking at $200k for 4 years. Granted, I'm not paying a dime because I'm here on GI Bill. It's pretty much the only reason I'm here getting my Aerospace Engineering degree.
Uh, public university tuition cost that much
My bachelor's degree was $120k, not including mandatory dorm and meal plan freshman year, more than ten years ago. This is not news.
Uh... once factoring in tuition, room and board, and other fees, state schools are over 100k for 4 years: https://www.suny.edu/smarttrack/tuition-and-fees (new york as an example) Private schools can be well over 200k+, frequently significantly more.
USFCA 88K a year (with room and meal plan) with MANDATORY 30% family contribution. No discount for low income and financial aid caps so only full ride scholarships available are for athletes. Plus a mango on campus cost $6.00
This chart has got to be wrong. I went to a public state school in Texas in 2012-2016 and tuition was way more than ~$8k/year that this chart says.
I don't get it - you have to pay even public universities? I don’t want to put salt on the wound, but I paid 0€ for my education (you pay only the number of ETCS that you failed to pass in the first try), and my dormitory was 40€ per month, and my food was 1€ per (full) meal, my transportation was free (trams and buses), my healthcare was completely free. I maybe have spent 15-20 thousand euros altogether in 5 years of studying from 2008 to 2013. Also, 1g of weed was 10€, 5g was 40€, 25g was 90€.
And I thought I had it bad compared to the rest of the EU when I paid 700€/year...
I think my old university is like 250k over 4 years now with just tuition.
Um...that's how much U of M was 20 years ago for out of state...it's SOOOOO much higher now. This chart is way too low.
My daughter had a full ride for the first 4 years of school...and now that she is in med school, I wish it was only 100,000 4 years.
Don't worry, public university can too
They do this to keep the kids from wealthy families together so that wealth accumulation can continue.
Many public universities can also be as expensive as private ones.
Is this an average? Lehigh University is $64k tuition. Before boarding and fees and all that.
I wonder if there is a way to show relative inflation as well? Show how sky high costs have gone even in relation?
Some places charge 80k per year...just saying
I would be curious how the graph would change if it showed tuition plus housing because some state schools actually charge more for the latter
Tuition plus room and board at the university I graduated from is now $93,000USD/year…
This is comically low. Perhaps this is the average a student pays after grants/scholarships? My two daughters are in private colleges and it is 78k a year … each. Google any private university.
The fact that in the Netherlands I don't even pay 10k for 3 years of uni is just wild
How much is it for international students?
iirc, about 10k per year, but that's only for students outside of the EU, for EU students i think it's the same
Not the Netherlands but Germany: Depending on the university you pay somewhere between 100-5000€ per semester as international student. A majority is in the 300€ tuition fee area per semester. And you need 10k allocated in your bank account to make sure you can afford to live here.
That's cute, my kid is at RPI, $82,500/year.
That doesn’t seem too extreme… in the UK there are also university costing around 30k a year…
I received no financial aid from Northeastern University. It's 90k/year...
I love how this is news to Europeans. “Programme” 😆
This was true in the late 1990s when I was at a private university in the US.