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- USC
- Brown
- Vassar
- Boston College
- U of Chicago
- Amherst
- Colgate
- Tufts
- Trinity
- Haverford
- Colorado College
- Columbia
- Harvey Mudd
- Franklin Marshall
- Duke
- Wesleyan
- Barnard
- Colby
- Pepperdine
- Cornell
- Kenyon
- Claremont
- Carleton
- Tulane
- Reed
Thanks @momofboiler1
Is this a surprise to anyone? Many of the colleges on this list also provide excellent and generous need based aid if you qualify.
I think all but Pepperdine meet need but many are need aware and have over half full pay - so expensive and wealthy students.
Even for those with great aid, I wonder how they do surrounded by so much wealth.
But if one makes it affordable, kudos to them. Others who pay full - they made a choice too.
I’m not sure anyone will mind being on the list. A Louis Vuitton bag does the same as a purse from Target and yet people want it because it’s Louis Vuitton.
The schools hope people see value in their offerings although only a few offer merit aid and F&M recently had to go to merit aid - presumably not finding enough kids otherwise although that’s just a hypothesis. They were need only to a few years ago.
Definitely a concern but comes down to the disposition of the student and the expectations that the parents set with them.
I can tell you that from the parents FB page for Tulane it runs the gamut of parents that provide their kids with an allowance (and some of the numbers I cringe at) and those that say “yeah, that’s what my kid works summers for - their spending money”.
If a student/family is on need based aid and the student is someone that wants to “keep up” with those around them - one of the schools above is not likely a great choice.
I got to college thinking that “high earners” were the people in my neighborhood who owned small businesses. A carpet store. An egg and dairy distributor. A butcher who supplied all the high end restaurants in Boston in addition to a few retail outlets.
College wasn’t just an eyeopener intellectually and academically- it was a daily lesson in global economics which has served me well for my entire life. And taught me- quickly- the things that “rich kids” know which other people do not.
There was a burnt out light in the hallway of my freshman dorm. The “regular kids” decided to write a letter to the head of Housing after our many complaints to the housing office went unanswered– and we tried to replace the bulb ourselves but the fixture was clearly broken. One of us presented the letter to the “daughter of wealth” on our hall and she shrugged and said “give me the letter”. She walked in to the office of the Dean of Students (knocked first- told the receptionist “I don’t have an appointment but this will only take a minute”) and half an hour later- an electrician was rewiring the light and it was fixed.
There were two very popular courses which had their final exams scheduled at the same time. Most of us were trying to figure out from the course catalogue “How do you take a make up exam when you have a scheduling conflict”, while the “prep school kids” had already had a sit-down with the provost- and two days later, the finals were rescheduled.
I spent weeks working on a research paper freshman year and wasn’t getting anywhere- the primary sources I needed just didn’t seem to exist. One of my classmates asked “did you get professor X’s POV on your topic?” I said ‘No, why?” and she said “Just meet with him, tell him the trouble you are having, and he’ll tweak the topic to something similar but where there’s tons of material”.
I had spent my HS years avoiding any grownup contact. My HS class was over 1200 students- if a teacher singled you out, it meant you were in trouble. And if a guidance counselor singled you out, it meant law enforcement was waiting for you outside the building. And now I’m learning that professors are there to help you? Make things easier? Get you to an A paper in the most efficient way possible? Amazing. The things those “rich kids” learned in their prep schools that we were never taught!!!
So yeah, really tragic to be at a college with kids who understand how the “system” works and know how to “operate” the system! Who knew that the provost was the most important person in the faculty hierarchy- and could make changes with the stroke of a pen! Nobody in my HS knew what a provost was!
I went to one of the schools on that list. I was your basic middle class student whose parents took out a loan to add to my state merit scholarship money, to go to college. We just had a landmark reunion and in retrospect I had no idea who had been on scholarship and was low income, and who, other than perhaps a handful for whom it was painfully obvious by their last name, came from wealth. It was interesting to hear at reunion, some people say they were scholarship students. I had no idea and it would not have come up in any obvious way that I paid attention to.
I think what surprises me, as people routinely point to it as a prime example of an expensive school, is that NYU isn’t on that list.
There are plenty of schools with COAs over $90k/year that are just below the cost of #25 on the list.
At Vassar, #3 here, where my D22 attends, 2/3 of kids receive some financial aid with an average award over $50k (according to a quick google). The college is need blind in admissions so I’m sure that helps. D22 is a high need kid - her aid is well over that average - and as far as I can tell has never felt particularly poor - most of her friends work (as does she), most get some aid (though she doesn’t really discuss with them how much), most have parents with regular middle class jobs, and as far as I can tell they all have budgets. I think that might differ from school to school - a couple kids we know at ivies have certainly run into a whole other level of wealth. I have no idea if my D is just attracted to other kids at a similar income level or if that’s the kind of kid that goes to the school. And I will point out that while we are (apparently) low income for financial aid at a meets need school, as well as when compared to other CC parents, we are definitely upper middle class in any other context! My kid has traveled extensively, has college educated parents, attended a good public school, and lots of cultural exposure. She also has an appropriate (for her age and upbringing) disdain for wealth. So she does fine. Another kid from a more “disadvantaged” background might have more issues at any college - whether or not they appear on this list.
Back in the Stone Age, my college roommate was from a multimillionaire family. I was on full financial aid, and worked to pay my through college (back when you could do this). My very very wealthy roommate was one of the most humble people I have ever met. I knew her family was wealthier than mine, but I never knew the depth of their wealth until her wedding, years after we graduated.
One of my kids went to a college that someone on this forum notes is full of rich kids. Again, her friends were awesome.
And no one flaunted their wealth.
We were a full pay (almost) family and our kids had not price limits in their college search and selection. Some families do that…because they want to and can.
One of our kids considered one college in that list, and we would have paid the cost.
These are excellent colleges. Some folks are willing to pay the costs to attend.
In my experience those that are truly from wealth don’t typically flaunt it. But these might be the students that can go out to dinner 3-4 night/week or go to regular concerts, go to nice places during breaks - or just fly home for a weekend because they feel like it.
Back in undergrad school (small State SchooI in the early 90’s) I remember one of our business professors posing to the class - I THINK it had to do with a substantial value of the State Lottery - that we wouldn’t know how to spend that kind of money. It was an interesting discussion. Kids talking about buying a house or cars, etc etc… and it was clear the teacher was right - we had no idea what would be needed to manage such a sum and the income it would spin off and how life changing it would be.
Yes, at one time it was the most expensive college in the country. At another point, that “honor” was held by Bennington.
When I hear about high priced colleges and universities that give average aid in the $30k - $50k range it makes me think of discount furniture stores. Just set a true price that generates the revenue the institution needs, then provide some aid to the students that really need it.
Exactly. Highest sticker price does not equal most expensive college. That distinction is reserved for schools where students actually pay the most money.
It can definitely be an issue. I have a professor friend who helps run the support system for Pell-eligible students at her college. She says that people who aren’t from an actually low-income background don’t tend to understand the issues that arise. Being on partial scholarship coming from a middle class suburb and a college-educated family is not at all the same experience as being actually low income.
If I recall correctly, Sarah Lawrence also held that title at one point.
The list, while interesting, is useful only for full pay families.
US News publishes a list of the net cost for schools after the average grant awarded/given by that particular school. Not sure if still accurate, but Amherst College, the #6 most expensive school on the list above, is actually among the lowest net COA schools as reported by US News.
COA at NYU’s undergraduate schools varies by school with most listing total COA as $97,000 per academic year, but Tisch (theater arts) is more expensive at well over $103,000 per year.
Comparing just published tuition & fees ignores the pricing models of schools that raise housing & board by a higher percentage than for tuition & fees.