Some schools do that. I believe Ohio schools do. U of Arizona used to, not sure if they still do.
But many/most don’t - including Fordham.
Why should it be this way?
People continue to forget colleges are business. Students are consumers.
It’s this way because schools are able to do it - or perhaps their expenses have gone up and they find revenues to match.
And kids trip over themselves or wreck their futures so they could go to Fordham, instead of say Florida Atlanta, Furman, or SUNY Fredonia.
In the grand scheme of life, for most (not all these kids because some may be tied to Wall Street or acting), but will it really matter?
And even those kids - what % will make it?
These kids make a choice. At least the feds are now going to put a hard cap on loan amounts.
But in this case, the consumer is, for the most part, being enticed with an unaffordable package.
My initial point is/was - if they can’t afford a 4% increase, they probably couldn’t afford the previous year either.
Any university could do this - but then they’d potentially give up revenues or perhaps have to raise their up front cost to begin with to account.