<p>Keep an eye on UVa’s current direction of differential tuition. They have been using this for some time with McIntire School of Commerce. When the school announces “We have only raised tuition 3.8% for instate and 4.8% for OOS for the coming year” this does not tell the entire story. They indeed get the big headline the BOV wants, which says tuition is being kept as low as possible. What the students and families get is death by fees. Yes, all colleges charge their students fees. UVa is using a different model of differential tuition. The Nursing and Engineering students pay a lab fee differential, the Engineering students pay a differential of $2k in addition to a 3.9% base differential (this is being phased in over four years. McIntire is a two year program and has a $5k/year differential. A proposal of a differential fee to third and fourth year students of $2k to offset smaller classes and better advising was in the plan before the BOV but not implemented. With the new 5-year plan getting the green light from the BOV in November that included restructuring advising I would not be surprised to see this $2k differential back on the table in April next year.</p>
<p>I am in no way disparaging the way that UVa charges it’s students. I have a third year currently there. What I am saying is they are employing a different model, differential tuition. It is no longer enough to look at tuition, room, and board to get an idea of the COA (give or take for travel and personal expenses). If you do this looking at say W&M’s tuition, room, and board, you are not looking apples to apples. For a school such as UVa this model may make more sense. A cafeteria plan if you will. My only beef (if you want to call it that) is continuing to list base tuition instead of a range, from the first year with no additional fees to the forth year with the highest fees possible. When it comes to a discussion such as squiddy is bringing up, which is fair to compare increases in tuitions, you can no longer look at the base tuition that UVa is listing and think that’s a realistic price you’re going to pay. I’m not trying to insult other parents, but I don’t know how many are going to dig deep enough to realize that the tuition listed is really a meaningless number. Maybe I’m shortchanging UVa and the differential tuition model and the various COA’s will be made very clear when one looks for this information so they can make easy comparisons with other schools.</p>
<p>I guess my ultimate point is I don’t think W&M is out of line financially when you start to add up these fees and extrapolate the direction UVa is going and where they could be in four years. The instate student entering W&M class of 2018 has a pretty clear idea of what their costs will be. The instate student entering UVa class of 2018 has absolutely no idea what they will be paying by their forth year. I think it’s hard to say W&M is pricing themselves out.</p>