Before celebrating, though, remember that depressed housing prices and constrained financial markets make it tougher to dip into home equity to pay for school (a favorite strategy of the past few years), and layoffs are putting an obvious strain on household finances. So, the bargain in all this may be hard to find, even with financial aid increases of 9.2%.
Top-shelf institutions, including Harvard University, Dartmouth College and Stanford University are making deep spending cuts and unloading staff. The drop in endowments is to blame, with some falling by as much as 30 percent. The 4.3% tuition increases are intended to help fill the gap that cost-cutting can't address. The total cost to attend Yale University for a year is now up to $50,550, with Harvard University close behind at $48,868. Yale tuition increased 3.3%, with Harvard at 3.5%.
Before condemning academia for raising prices in such a tough market, keep in mind that faculty members are suffering salary freezes and construction projects remain in limbo. It's not as though an orgy of spending is fueling the need for price hikes.
Who suffers most in all this?
Students who do not receive financial aid are most likely to suffer from the current tuition market, as they will bear the brunt of price increases without the benefit of an offset. At the same time, their households are more likely to have felt the sting of investment declines and capital market calamity.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-07-2009 @ 2:38PM
Concerned Student said...
This is good news for students, but tuition prices are still unreasonably high. Anyone who has ever taken out a loan to help pay for schools knows how much it just hangs over you for years. That's why I am also heartened by another piece of news I read today, which says that there may be a change in loan policy in the future to reduce the stress put on students. http://thestimulist.com/the-new-rational-student-loan-payment-plan/