The Cost of Higher Ed

The cost of higher education has consistently gone up in recent years. The rate of increase at many institutions surpasses the average inflation rates per the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. 

If you are curious how much precisely the increase is, here are some numbers. They come from The Chronicle of Higher Education and exclude room and board. I selected several institutions in Virginia and nationwide and looked up the cost of tuition.

The tuition at William and Mary has increased from $12,188 to $23,628 from 2011 to 2019. I avoided the statistics for 2020 for obvious reasons, as the pandemic has drastically shifted the dynamics. The average hike in tuition costs comes to about 8% per year. 

For the same period, University of Virginia increased its tuition from $10,628 to $18,968 at about 7% annually. Both institutions are state-owned, and the numbers above refer to in-state rates. (Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education.) 

The private institutions have kept up a slower pace, but their cost is usually significantly higher than their state counterparts.

For the period of 2011- 2019, George Washington University increased its tuition from $42,905 to $58,640; Cornell University – from $39,666 to $59,316; MIT – from $39,212 to $53,450; and Harvard – from $38,416 to $54,000. The annual increase for these four institutions runs between 3 to 4% per year. 

This cost is just the sticker price and not the actual cost to students. Virtually all institutions offer some form of financial aid to the majority of their students. Unfortunately, a combination of institutional secrecy and a complicated financial aid process makes it impossible to get a good idea of what each university’s cost will be until they accept you.

So, unless your college fund portfolio outperforms those 8% annual increases, what can you do? And what about those people who don’t even have college funds?

financial aid trumps rankings

The first and foremost fact you need to keep in mind is that financial aid trumps rankings any day. When you apply to colleges, widen your net and apply to top, middle, and below-the-middle schools. Whoever offers you the best financial aid package is the way to go. A high-ranked school incurring hundreds of thousands of dollars of student debt is no better than a lower-ranked school with a better financial aid package. And besides, if two schools’ rankings are within ten or even twenty places, they are practically comparable. In other words, there isn’t much difference between place A ranked 15 and place B ranked 20 regardless of who does the ranking. In the long run, you are always better off by finding a place that offers you more financial aid.

don’t start until you are ready

Be clear about your academic goals! This is a tough thing to do as many of us are too young and immature when we first make it to college. As a result, many students sleep-walk through their majors to emerge on the other end with a diploma in hand, tons of student debt, and no clear job prospects.

If you find yourself vacillating between majors, go and talk to the professors in the corresponding departments. Ask them what specific skills you will acquire within each major, what support they provide for their students, and how former students are faring.

For students who are even more unclear about their academics, a gap year might be just the thing. A gap year is when students are accepted into college but delay entering by a year. You take that time for growth and exploration. Travel, meet people, take an internship, or work at a job. Give yourself the time and space to know yourself, your interests, and your goals. Being clear about your plans makes a bigger difference in college than merely jumping right in from high school.

transfer credits in

The most dramatic tuition cost cut, however, can come from transferring credits. When colleges accept your transfer credits, you can complete your degree in less than the standard four years. Whether your take AP classes or classes at the local community college, always ask whether they are transferrable into your intended institutions.

A typical course load for one semester is about 15 credits of classes. At NOVA, where I teach physics, those credits will cost you about $3,000. At Mason, NOVA’s closest four-year institution partner, the same semester of classes will cost you at least three times as much. And if you take those classes while still in high school, you can even get ahead while saving money at the same time. Just ask your high-school counselor for community college partnerships and dual-enrollment classes.  

Short of legislature providing taxpayers money to cover state tuition, there is no one thing that can make higher education affordable. The pandemic crisis also has muddled the situation. And while there have been some exciting developments that might affect higher ed in the long run, it is still too early to see how the changes will unfold. Until then, the more informed you are about colleges, admissions, and academic life in general, the better the chances of avoiding the high-cost pitfalls.