Tuition costs continue to soar, outpacing inflation in most categories over the past few decades, but some colleges are finally making higher education more affordable.
St. John’s College, a private school with campuses in Maryland and New Mexico, is the latest to make such a move, slashing tuition by $17,000 a year. The school plans to make the money up through fundraising. According to a news release, St. John’s will lower tuition from $52,000 to $35,000 by raising $300 million to offset the revenue loss. The plan is set to go into effect in 2019.
“This is highly relevant to the trending topic of the tuition crisis, and St. John’s is taking a stance on prestige pricing, saying that enough is enough,” the college stated in an email announcing the plan.
A college official said the move was made because students and families have been stretched to the max on what they can afford to pay for an education.
“We believe the days when students and families could pay exorbitant tuition prices are gone and they aren’t coming back—nor should they—and we are placing philanthropy at the center of our financial model rather than student-derived revenue to ensure we remain strong financially as a college,” Mark Roosevelt, president of the St. John's College system, told Inside Higher Ed.
The price break is an anomaly in a higher education environment where costs keep climbing. According to a 2013 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, tuition and fees rose by 89% from 2002 to 2012.
While unique, St. Johns is not alone in scaling down tuition. In August both Robert Morris University and Oglethorpe University announced price-matching programs in an effort to compete with state flagship schools. Robert Morris is competing only with Pennsylvania schools for state residents, while Oglethorpe is open to all, meaning students can expect to pay anywhere from $18,499 to $5,500, depending on where they call home.
Others include University of the Cumberlands, which is trimming tuition by 57%; Elizabethtown College, which is cutting costs by 32% percent, Stephens College, and Elmira College, just to name a few.
A University of the Cumberlands official told local newspaper the News Journal that the move would ease the burden of student debt for graduates of the institution.
“As someone who speaks to students each day about college finances, including student loans and managing that debt beyond college, it is exciting to think of the opportunity our students and families have with this tuition reduction plan,” Larry Rector, director of Financial Aid said. “From this point forward, this university can send college graduates into the world with the financial peace of mind not available to many of their peers.”
Elizabethtown College President Carl Strikwerda said the tuition cut will attract more students who would not previously have considered the school based on the costs.
“They don’t even apply because the tuition is so high,” Strikwerda told Lancaster Online.
While tuition resets are rare, the flurry of recent announcements detailing plans to do so, suggests that the strategy is gaining in popularity. Similarly, last fall also saw a number of small, private colleges scaling back costs.
