As astute readers of this blog may have noticed, I try to theme my blogs to the time of year. October blogs focus on candy or costumes. November hits Thanksgiving and spring, well that’s been a bit hit or miss. I’ve blogged on flowers, thaws, taxes, and on two occasions, colleges. The May 2024 blog focused on land grant colleges and in April 2016 I covered the most expensive college in each state.
Rising Costs of a 4-Year Degree
Students and their parents probably don’t need this reminder, but the cost of a 4-Year college degree is astronomical. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) a US government entity, tuition at roughly 250 US institutions exceeds $65,000. Of course there’s more to the cost than tuition. Students also need to pay for room & board and in many cases significant additional fees. With the trend toward higher-end dormitories, better food, and resort-like amenities (e.g., rock-climing walls) these additional costs quickly add up. Dozens of ‘elite’ private school list total college costs above $90,000 per year. If you add in personal travel costs to the bill, Wellesley college reports a total cost of $100,541. For comparison, the median US household income in 2024 was just under $84,000.
Sticker Price vs. Actual Cost
To be clear, the numbers above represent the full list price for attendance. Other than the very wealthy and perhaps international students, only a small percentage of students pay full freight. As an example my alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute lists its full cost of attendance just below $90,000. Per the school, 96% of students receive financial aid or merit based assistance bringing the average cost down to just under $36,000. That’s ~60% off the list price. To be fair, I’m not sure what portion of that discount consists of loans. While the specifics vary from school to school, other private schools take similar approaches. As a brief aside, it ranged from $12-15,000 when I attended in the mid-1980s. My family couldn’t afford that, but thanks to the Cold War and the USAF need for engineers, I went tuition free.
State School Alternative
That brings us to the logical alternative. With private college costs soaring toward and past $100K, what about state colleges? In many states the public universities offer a great education with top notch research and strong connections to the local community. Boosters of the value of private education often cite the Supreme Court Justices as examples. All nine earned degrees from private undergraduate colleges. Even more telling four attended Yale law school and four Harvard. The sole exception is Associate Justice Barrett, who went to Notre Dame law school. However, 290 members of the legislative branch (42 Senators & 248 representatives) went to public universities and 245 went to private colleges. Of course, that presumes that high government officials represent the pinnacle of success that we all aspire to achieve (insert snarky comment about politicians here). I suspect it simply reflects the power of networking with people who can afford the cost of private education. After all, the laws of physics, the rules in math, and the words on the page are the same regardless of where you learn them.
What Does a State College Cost?
As you might expect the in-state costs for colleges vary greatly state by state, which brings us to our featured map courtesy of the Education Data Initiative. As you can see costs range from $16,500 in Wyoming to $33,900 in Vermont. For most people that cost savings represents a bargain worth considering.
As always thanks for reading.
Armen
Note to pay the bills
If you’re interested in a PG-rated James Bond-like thriller in a high fantasy setting, check out a summary of the Warders series here. Alternatively, Misaligned Series features two young teens, Penny and Duncan, struggling to save the world from myth tied to theoretical physics. How does that work in a Young Adult fantasy series? Learn more by reading a summary of the series here. Find links to purchase books both series here.