NPR College Admissions Story

SamuraiLandshark
Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:03:52 +0000

What I think is often left out of the equation is the difference in cost to educate a student, whether at a 4 year public such as UCLA, a 4 year public such as Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and a community college. So much has been subsidized with taxes that it’s hard to fathom what the true cost per student.

Each college has their own costs that must be taken into consideration - staff, buildings, maintenance, electricity, and so on.

This brings me to the point that a student who is going to a school like UCLA is ALREADY getting their education subsidized by the wider base of California residents. You can use this example for all public schools. Unless your cost of attendance is paying every penny of the true cost - not just tuition, room and board and fees, than by default, you may already be getting a “scholarship” to attend.

It may not seem that way.

Some students are full pay, some are out of state full pay and the taxpayers are still contributing a large portion towards the education of a student.

http://www.lao.ca.gov/sections/higher_ed/FAQs/Higher_Education_Issue_05.pdf



For 2008-09, the systemwide resident undergraduate fee at the University
of California (UC), the California State University (CSU), and the California
Community Colleges (CCC) covered 38 percent, 31 percent, and 11 percent,
respectively, of each system’s average operating cost per undergraduate
student (see fi gure below).

 Systemwide resident graduate fees at UC and CSU covered a smaller share
of the average operating cost per graduate student.

 Because they do not account for facilities costs, these fi gures somewhat
overstate the share students pay. Facilities costs, which are diffi cult to calculate,
can add roughly 20 percent to the annual cost of education.
Average Cost Per Full-Time Equivalent Undergraduate Student, 2008-09
a State