Swarthmore and Amherst are the next to go, many financial problems recently. All these "LACs" will thankfully die out and students will actually need to work hard for an engineering or STEM degree.

Bridgewater is known for its program for autistic students

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the schools that claim high tuition but absolutely none of their students pay that price.

Just reduce to the max rate, then give your scholarships from there.

I can't find the article but I read one a while ago about a college that experimented with that and it didn't work out well.

High tuition has become a psychological indicator of quality. If your sticker price is significantly below your peers people think you're not as good. Same as lots of other products.

You'd need the market leaders to lead the way, e.g. if all the Ivies dropped their prices by $20k (they certainly don't need the money) then others could follow.

In the early 90s, Harvard's cost of attendance was about $20k. If it followed the general rate of inflation or should now cost about $50k

Bridgewater college in VA slashed tuition by 60%. I read an article when they did it but haven’t seen any update on how it has turned out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the schools that claim high tuition but absolutely none of their students pay that price.

Just reduce to the max rate, then give your scholarships from there.

I can't find the article but I read one a while ago about a college that experimented with that and it didn't work out well.

High tuition has become a psychological indicator of quality. If your sticker price is significantly below your peers people think you're not as good. Same as lots of other products.

You'd need the market leaders to lead the way, e.g. if all the Ivies dropped their prices by $20k (they certainly don't need the money) then others could follow.

In the early 90s, Harvard's cost of attendance was about $20k. If it followed the general rate of inflation or should now cost about $50k

Probably not coincidentally, we found in net price calculators and the merit aid offers my kids got that a lot of the private schools ended up coming in around this price.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the schools that claim high tuition but absolutely none of their students pay that price.

Just reduce to the max rate, then give your scholarships from there.

I can't find the article but I read one a while ago about a college that experimented with that and it didn't work out well.

High tuition has become a psychological indicator of quality. If your sticker price is significantly below your peers people think you're not as good. Same as lots of other products.

You'd need the market leaders to lead the way, e.g. if all the Ivies dropped their prices by $20k (they certainly don't need the money) then others could follow.

In the early 90s, Harvard's cost of attendance was about $20k. If it followed the general rate of inflation or should now cost about $50k

Seems like the bubble is bursting finally in higher ed. Hopefully it will mean lower tuition at more solvent schools in the near future.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why most people only want to go to a T20 school.

Most of the big state schools are below T20, and they are fine.

I would be worried about the SLACs.

I think its time to start worrying about private universities. Small liberal arts colleges have majors that don't cost much to operate and need a mid-sized endowment to stay alive. The small ones will die at the beginning, so is life.

Universities without mass popularity are screwed. Their departments cost immense amounts (Engineering, Nursing, and for every STEM department you not only have to fund bigger labs but a line of grad students), they have to house and feed a larger amount of students and they need it to actually be decent to compete with peer schools (*cough* High Point *cough), and they often have really big infrastructure projects attached such as medical centers (which are becoming more expensive and lowering in ROI). Many universities are running off of the budgets of medium-endowed small liberal arts colleges, which is really concerning.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the schools that claim high tuition but absolutely none of their students pay that price.

Just reduce to the max rate, then give your scholarships from there.

That earns them less money, which means poor students pay more as there are no rich parents subsidizing their tuition

It's why schools like NEU that are stem oriented with Co-op real world programs are becoming extremely popular and competitive, despite what the trolls say. When your acceptance rate drop from 50% a decade ago to 2%, it's not just marketing, it's strategic positioning.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the schools that claim high tuition but absolutely none of their students pay that price.

Just reduce to the max rate, then give your scholarships from there.

They're delusional and like to price at their "peers" rate. For example, Oberlin believes its closest peers are Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Colgate, Haverford, and Vassar. The only one of these schools who they aren't immediately losing students to is Vassar, and Vassar is foolish enough to believe it is competing with Williams.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/who-does-your-college-think-its-peers-are?sra=true#id=197133

I just read the article, and am guessing that PP didn't read it.

Yes, Oberlin listed these six schools as being among their 16 "peers." But guess what? Haverford, Wesleyan , Vassar, and Middlebury reciprocated and listed Oberlin as their peer. Moreover, schools like Swarthmore, Pomona, Carleton, Wellesley, Smith, and Carleton are among the additional colleges naming Oberlin as a peer.

Maybe in 2010. Do you today think that Williams, Swarthmore, Pomona, or Wellesley are peers to Oberlin? What about the average applicant out there today?

Where did you get 2010 from?

The article is from the 2022-23 annual submissions from each college, on which other colleges it identifies as a "peer."
.
It's not USNWR or niche or whatever. Instead, it's colleges assessing their own peers. It's actually pretty interesting, even if it doesn't fit your narrative of trying to knock Oberlin. In fact, Oberlin comes off looking pretty great as assessed by other colleges

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the schools that claim high tuition but absolutely none of their students pay that price.

Just reduce to the max rate, then give your scholarships from there.

They're delusional and like to price at their "peers" rate. For example, Oberlin believes its closest peers are Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Colgate, Haverford, and Vassar. The only one of these schools who they aren't immediately losing students to is Vassar, and Vassar is foolish enough to believe it is competing with Williams.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/who-does-your-college-think-its-peers-are?sra=true#id=197133

I just read the article, and am guessing that PP didn't read it.

Yes, Oberlin listed these six schools as being among their 16 "peers." But guess what? Haverford, Wesleyan , Vassar, and Middlebury reciprocated and listed Oberlin as their peer. Moreover, schools like Swarthmore, Pomona, Carleton, Wellesley, Smith, and Carleton are among the additional colleges naming Oberlin as a peer.

Maybe in 2010. Do you today think that Williams, Swarthmore, Pomona, or Wellesley are peers to Oberlin? What about the average applicant out there today?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the schools that claim high tuition but absolutely none of their students pay that price.

Just reduce to the max rate, then give your scholarships from there.

They're delusional and like to price at their "peers" rate. For example, Oberlin believes its closest peers are Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Colgate, Haverford, and Vassar. The only one of these schools who they aren't immediately losing students to is Vassar, and Vassar is foolish enough to believe it is competing with Williams.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/who-does-your-college-think-its-peers-are?sra=true#id=197133

I just read the article, and am guessing that PP didn't read it.

Yes, Oberlin listed these six schools as being among their 16 "peers." But guess what? Haverford, Wesleyan , Vassar, and Middlebury reciprocated and listed Oberlin as their peer. Moreover, schools like Swarthmore, Pomona, Carleton, Wellesley, Smith, and Carleton are among the additional colleges naming Oberlin as a peer.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the schools that claim high tuition but absolutely none of their students pay that price.

Just reduce to the max rate, then give your scholarships from there.

They're delusional and like to price at their "peers" rate. For example, Oberlin believes its closest peers are Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Colgate, Haverford, and Vassar. The only one of these schools who they aren't immediately losing students to is Vassar, and Vassar is foolish enough to believe it is competing with Williams.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/who-does-your-college-think-its-peers-are?sra=true#id=197133

I don’t understand the schools that claim high tuition but absolutely none of their students pay that price.

Just reduce to the max rate, then give your scholarships from there.

Anonymous wrote:It's price.

You just can't charge 70, 80, 90 grand and not be a name school.

At this price point, it's state flagships, top 50 privates, and maybe 10 SLACs. Absolutely every other school is going to have a hard time going forward. Changing demographics, fewer students, unwillingness to take out loans at these price points, etc. They're not all going to close, but they will become weaker if they haven't been planning for things over the past 15 years. It's been predictable forever.

I really think this will be a good thing. You’ll see more colleges joining forces and being able to offer more to students. You’ll also see more colleges with northeastern like “branches” in other states where they want to have an impact. The infrastructure already exists, so might as well buy up all the failing pretty colleges.