Lawrence Kane always thought his son, Joey, would follow in his footsteps and attend the University of Washington, but a massive grant package from a private school changed Joey’s decision.
“He always thought he was going to ‘Dub’ and never really considered all the other places where he applied until he got those acceptances,” says Kane.
After creating a spreadsheet comparing total costs and academic benefits, Joey, now a junior, chose to attend Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. The sports medicine major made the decision in part because of the more than 50-percent tuition reduction he received in grants from the school, his father says.
[Check out the 10 most and least expensive private colleges.]
“Obviously if we were paying full tuition, there would be a massive difference,” Kane says. “For what he’s trying to do for his major, it’s the best choice. But it would have been a much harder choice if we were paying $30,000 or $40,000 extra as opposed to a couple thousand dollars extra.”
The full sticker price at Pacific Lutheran is $40,722 compared with $10,974 for in-state tuition at UW for the 2017-2018 school year.
Many families similar to the Kanes receive generous tuition discounts from private colleges. In fact, the average discount rate that private institutions gave to incoming freshmen for the 2016-2017 school year was 49.1 percent, according to the most recent survey by the National Association of College and University of Business Officers, commonly called NACUBO.
[Learn more about college costs and financial aid.]
The NACUBO study also found that, among all undergraduates, the average discount rate was a record-setting 44.2 percent — the highest in more than 10 years.
College advisers say most families don’t realize that private colleges offer these tuition discounts. But institutional grants can significantly lower the advertised tuition sticker price.
For prospective students and their families who are concerned about hefty college price tags, here are three cost advantages of attending a private institution over a state school.
[Explore these public schools that offer honors colleges.]
1. Generous financial aid: “Schools with endowments are more willing to help families,” says California college counselor Danny Ruderman.
Ruderman says schools such as Harvard University changed the financial aid landscape, trying to accommodate needy students with generous aid packages. “They really felt like a lot of families were being left out, and they didn’t want to be known as catering to only families who could afford it.”
Harvard, which is No. 2 in the U.S. News Best Value rankings among National Universities, provided need-based awards to 55 percent of full-time undergraduates last school year, according to U.S. News data. The university doled out $50,562 on average to need-based recipients in the 2016-2017 academic year, which more than offsets the Massachusetts institution’s tuition and fees — $47,074 — for that year.
Kristen Moon, founder of Atlanta-based Moon Prep, says that while Ivy League schools are typically generous with need-based aid, merit-based aid doesn’t exist at these institutions. “Even if you have a 1600 SAT, you still won’t get a merit scholarship.”
2. Available non-need-based grants: “Small private liberal arts colleges tend to be the most generous with merit aid,” Moon says. “These smaller private colleges attract the type of student who is academically strong enough for the Ivy League. They lure them with free money.”
Beloit College, a National Liberal Arts College, for example, handed out merit aid to 34 percent of undergraduates in 2016-2017, according to U.S. News data. The Wisconsin school shelled out an average merit award of $25,897 to freshman recipients. That’s more than half of tuition and fees for that year: $48,706.
3. More work-study opportunities: “A private school has a lot more means of giving you financial aid, including work-study,” says Ruderman.
According to a recent Brookings Institution report, a higher percentage of undergraduates receive work-study at four-year, private colleges.
Ruderman says a school’s student body size can play a role in finding a work-study position. For example, he notes that the University of California–Los Angeles has more than 30,000 undergraduates, whereas Harvard has fewer than 7,000. “So there’s more work and fewer applicants,” Ruderman says.
Trying to fund your education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for College center.
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Consider the Cost Benefits of Private Colleges originally appeared on usnews.com
