EXAMINING COLLEGE SPENDING AND ITS

LINK TO PRICE

A Practical Workshop

FEATURING

Kathleen Payea, policy analyst, College Board

Matt Hamill, senior vice president of advocacy and

issue analysis, National Association of College and

University Business Officers

Steve Hurlburt, deputy director, Delta Cost

Project, American Institutes for Research

HOW MANY DON’T LIKE/FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE

WITH…

MATH

“FOLLOW THE MONEY”

COST & PRICE ARE HOT STORIES!

THE BASICS: “STICKER PRICE”

Definition: A college’s published price

But what is “price”?

Published tuition? Nope! A majority of universities now

charge extra fees or “differential tuition” for at least some

of their courses. (See research by Glen Nelson, currently

senior vice president of finance and administration for the

Arizona Board of Regents) And some colleges charge

“fees” not tuition.

“STICKER PRICE” : DIRECT COSTS V. TOTAL COST OF AT TENDANCE

“Direct costs” = tuition, fees, room & board. Some schools charge

lower tuition because they have high dorm prices that return

profits to the school. Some schools have a “comprehensive fee”

that includes tuition, fees, room and board.

By FEDERAL LAW, colleges are required to “make readily

available to current and prospective students” a full cost of

attendance that includes tuition, fees, room, board, books, travel

and a budget for miscellaneous items. (34 CFR 668.43

unfortunately, the law does not say when, where or how…)

THE BASICS: “NET PRICE”

Only about half of all college students pay out of their own

pockets the full price that colleges publish.

(http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_353.asp)

2/3 of college students attending full-time get grants (i.e.

discounts from published prices)

85% of freshmen at private universities get grants (i.e.

discounts from published prices.) Average size of discount:

43%. (NACUBO)

THE BASICS: “COST”

The cost of a college education is not the same as the

price colleges advertise or the price they actually charge

parents.

Yale says its 2012-13 $42,300 tuition is only “about half”

of the true cost of a year’s study. http

://scg.yale.edu/files/frequently-asked-questions

Taxpayers, alumni or other college revenues subsidize

many students who think they are paying “full price.”

G R E AT S T O R Y E X P O S I N G T H E D I S C O N N E C T B E T W E E N C O S T S A N D P R I C E S

Bloomberg story 5/3/12:

“Rutgers Football Fails Profit

Test as Students Pay $1,000. (Rutgers adds $1k in fees to student bills to cover costs of

football program

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-03/rutgers-football-fails-

profit-test-as-students-pay-1-000.html)

STICKER V. NET:

Kathleen Payea is a Policy Analyst for the College

Board.  She co-authors two reports in the College

Board’s Trends in Higher Education series: Trends in

Student Aid and Education Pays.

PRICE V. COST

Matthew W. Hamill, Senior Vice President,

National Association of College and University

Business Officers

COSTS & EXPENDITURES

Steven Hurlburt is Deputy Director of the Delta

Cost Project, and a researcher in the Education,

Human Development and Workforce Program at the

American Institutes for Research (AIR)

DIVE INTO COSTS AT A PRIVATE COLLEGE: 990

Compensation for President, coaches

Total revenues and expenses

Interest

Fundraising costs and gains

Contractors

RESOURCES: PRICES

Enrollment, graduation rates, tuition, aid, etc. etc.

NCES http://nces.ed.gov/

College prices, aid, return on education:

trends.collegeboard.org

State grants: nassgap.org

Basic financial aid info & stats: finaid.org

Tuition discounting: http://www.nacubo.org

RESOURCES: COSTS

State budget info: Grapevine

http://grapevine.illinoisstate.edu/

College spending and tuition trends:  Delta Cost

Project http://www.deltacostproject.org

Guidestar.org