I predict one top school will be all-scholarship in next 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In other words, nobody pays anything. It will probably be Princeton. Also, they'll get rid of legacy at same time.

I get that they take in a lot of money in tuition, but they already have half the kids going for nothing. And they don't need the money. And they'll be able to get rid of a pretty large and expensive administrative department.

I think it will start as tuition only and within another few years, 5 or so other colleges will follow.

Nothing new here. Columbia is already free tuition for families making <$150,000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there are people here who think all families who are paying full price are doing it by ripping out a check without another thought. "no problem paying" etc.

I live in a 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment in Brooklyn. The Princeton NPC says we can afford the full boat. LOL, what? Part of it is how we earn money (solo member LLCs with okay income - under 200k - that limits what we can put into retirement), part of it is how we spend money (toggling off HULU every 6 months, staying in the apartment we bought 25 years ago), part of it is how we save money (dollar cost averaging every single month no matter what).

We can't spend 400k for college. We have no inheritance on the way. We have to think about long term care for one of us

A lot of people don't even apply. Why would Princeton or another school make this move? Because at some point they'll wake up and realize 40 billion is enough money for a medium sized university and they will start to use some of the money it throws off. They could cover tuition for all and their endowment would still grow by a few billion a year.

While I understand your argument, something doesn't add up, literally. We make $250 in the DMV, and the Princeton NPC has us getting pretty significant aid, bringing price down to about $30K. Is is that you have significant assets that are counted (i.e., not retirement, not home equity)?

No, it's likely bcs you and I may have very similar assets but mine are not sheltered in retirement or home equity. I can only move so much into retirement with no corporate matching and we are too conservative to buy a pricier apartment. And we are taxed pretty high in nyc (fed, state, city) so we take home a lot less on same income.

I wish colleges took all assets and used a percentage. Like you can pay 2% of all assets. It's classist to let people shelter millions in retirement and home equity IMO. but nobody is asking my opinion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In other words, nobody pays anything. It will probably be Princeton. Also, they'll get rid of legacy at same time.

I get that they take in a lot of money in tuition, but they already have half the kids going for nothing. And they don't need the money. And they'll be able to get rid of a pretty large and expensive administrative department.

I think it will start as tuition only and within another few years, 5 or so other colleges will follow.

Nothing new here. Columbia is already free tuition for families making <$150,000.

only if you have under 200k in assets.

[Anonymous]

Think it will be JHU

[Anonymous]

I don't think they will do this because the very wealthy are over-represented at the T50 universities and colleges. Why give free tuition to the kid of a 7-figure HHI?

That makes zero sense.

If anything I think they will push the income threshold for tuition-free higher and higher to cover most of the donut hole families. Say $400K HHI for a dual income family with two kids. Basically, they will increase the tuition-free threshold to cover two GS-15s (or equivalent W2 incomes).

[Anonymous]

This could very well happen. I work for a successful NPF and it is always a concern to have too much $. It is a good problem to have. Why not make it free. These schools are NPFs and fully funded in perpetuity unless someone really screws things up.

As for prestige, in Europe the public universities which are essentially free are typically the most prestigious and have stronger brand recognition. It is the private schools on the resume that raise an eyebrow- like you had to pay your way in so you must not be that smart.

[Anonymous]

They charge double for the wealthier families so they can have the rest go for free instead of making it affordable for ev.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In other words, nobody pays anything. It will probably be Princeton. Also, they'll get rid of legacy at same time.

I get that they take in a lot of money in tuition, but they already have half the kids going for nothing. And they don't need the money. And they'll be able to get rid of a pretty large and expensive administrative department.

I think it will start as tuition only and within another few years, 5 or so other colleges will follow.

Nothing new here. Columbia is already free tuition for families making <$150,000.

only if you have under 200k in assets.

does a paid off home count as assets in this senario?

[Anonymous]

Scenario

[Anonymous]

because they have a mission? or they should pretend to have a mission? or they want to get ahead of the US people and US government asking why they get to be a NFP hedge fund with tax advantages with a small college attached that charges 90k a year?

their endowment has grown 12% a year for last 10 years. that's over 4 billion.

most NFPs feel okay drawing down 4% a year. leaves growth. for princeton that would like 1.5billion alone. not counting alumni contributions and the rest. tax advantaged!

paying for all the full pay would be 150 million. It's really not defensible that these schools charge tuition.

Does not matter. As long as there is a long list of students clamoring to attend for full pay (and there is with a single digit acceptance rate), someone will step up and pay. Why would any school not collect tuition? Just because you think it should be free, doesn't mean it will be. They are a business, and the supply is great, so they will charge the 40%+ that are full pay the full amount

This is incorrect. The only colleges that are "businesses" are the for-profit scams like the one our former president ran. Colleges cannot make "profit". They can only have a positive CNA (contribution to net assets) which they invest and as mentioned by PPs, earns a ton more money each year and is then reinvested again and again and again. They do not have shareholders and even though their employees may be well paid, their salaries are scrutinized more closely than businesses so they can't just give everyone large bonuses to unload the cash. They are also running out of physical space to build in their current locations. So the question is solid: what is the point of them just sitting on piles of cash and continuing to collect tuition? As poster above said, they have a mission and the funds to achieve the mission. Continuing to charge tuition is unnecessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They charge double for the wealthier families so they can have the rest go for free instead of making it affordable for ev.

They could actually make it free for everyone.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the idea of all-scholarship... it might be Princeton, or another one. Chicago was the first big school to become test optional, who would have thought?
I highly recommend The Inequality Machine by Paul Tough for those who have not read it yet. A lot of informations in this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I highly doubt Princeton will be getting rid of legacy. The Princeton legacy admits from our school were the most egregious.

Have you looked at their website lately? I agree with OP. The language used and institutional priorities seem very clear. Not a bad thing, but I would bet legacy isn't really used much longer there unless they are related to very large and involved donors. Even then selectively.

I can tell you that you are naive on this point....either that or I just happen to know the most selective families at Princeton (and I doubt this)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Think it will be JHU

I agree - far more likely than Princeton

[Anonymous]

I think it will be CalTech. A dozen or more schools could do this and eventually will, but CalTech has the most to gain.