I’ve been re-doing the NPC’s and tuition calculations as acceptances come in for our D.
We were very surprised to see at one school that there’s a substantial extra fee for participating in their Honors College, to which she has been accepted. It’s an amount that is about 6% of the out-of-state tuition. This seems quite high and it almost seems to penalize the Honors College participants.
Have you seen this at any other schools? Is such a fee hidden in some other line item of the NPC? I’ve seen schools cap the number of participants in their Honors College / Honors Program to keep it administratively manageable. But I don’t think we’ve run across other instances of schools passing that magnitude of program costs along to the parents.
Our son is in a public university honors program. There is a $450/semester fee. That is less than 3% of the OOS tuition in this case. During his search, we did see that some other programs also charged an Honors Program fee, while others do not. If your student is “going public” you might also want to look into any fees associated with “majoring” in a given discipline. At our DS’s school, there are extra fees associated with “belonging” to the business school and the engineering school. (Charged each semester once the major is declared.) We still consider the school to be a reasonable cost (esp with the great merit aid he got) but some public schools tack on extra fees to help get extra $ without raising base tuition.
I reached out to a friend with a new freshman in this same honors college, and she said yes that’s right - and at least you found out ahead of time! She found out when they got their first tuition bill. Her feedback was similar to @osaycanuc 's: a back-door way to increase revenue without openly raising tuition.
An honors college may be more expensive to run. Courses taught by full professors, small classes and seminars, guest speakers and receptions all cost money. If there is different housing, that cost can be reflected in just the housing, but some schools use more of an average to set housing prices.
It’s a lot cheaper to stick a TA in front of 50 students than to have a full prof teach a seminar to 15 honors college students.
No extra fees for being in the Honors Program at UW-Madison. I can imagine an Honors College may charge fees if there are special programs in addition to Honors classes. btw- already a recent thread discussing differences between Honors Colleges/Programs- it all depends on the school.
Several schools with Honors programs still provide merit awards, whether related directly to the Honors admittance or the regular admittance. I don’t think UW Madison is known for much in the way of merit for OOS students period, last I checked…but it’s been a while.
There was one east coast state that I heard was particularly bad for high fees, perhaps MD?
@ucbalumnus oh my gosh, I’ve never seen anything like that “curriculum fee.” So the effective tuition for the 3 cases above is $12K, $28K, and $21K respectively. Comparable to other publics, basically.
So a “full tuition” scholarship is 15%, 35%, or 14% of the effective Tuition + Curriculum Fee total.
I like the Mark Twain Scholarship model (for non-residents) at Mizzou better. Basically they are subsidizing between 1/3 and 2/3 of the delta between in-state and OOS tuition, depending on one’s stats. At least it doesn’t pretend to be something it isn’t.
Back on topic, based on our smallish sample it looks like Honors Colleges and Programs are, on the whole, associated with little to no guaranteed merit money in and of themselves.
We’ve seen a range from $0 up to about $3000/year. Same with alumni-named scholars program participation in individual departments - $0 to $1000/year.
The students admitted to the Honors and Scholars programs may be eligible for a more attractive merit aid offer overall, based on the attributes that got them accepted to those programs, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of merit aid tied directly to their participation.
The perks seem more in the area of priority registration, priority for internships, inclusion in an LLP/LLC with other Honors students, sometimes (not always) access to a nicer dedicated dorm, smaller classes (1-2/semester and less rote in content than the typical corresponding lower division class), and enhanced research / study abroad activities earlier in the undergrad program.
So once you factor in the added fees, the motivation for participation in Honors is not financial. It’s more about the factors mentioned above, particularly at a very large school.
This one is probably obvious, but some publics charge more for upperclassmen, so you get a price hike around junior year. So you really have to compare four years of cost, not just the first year.
Some are discussing aid, not extra fees for Honors students. Totally different to report on merit aid for top students. UW doesn’t need to attract top students with merit aid given for meeting test score or gpa levels.
Tuition and fees. All students, regardless of residency can be subject to the same fees. This means paying the same to support student unions and organizations on campus. I’ve seen the UW-Madison bills in the past- it made sense. there was also a difference in fees paid by part time (less than 12 semester credits)- a proration I believe.
I would not pick my school based on extra charges but would look at it as a part of the overall cost of attending. The same thing applies to different majors- as posted above. Affordability has to be looked at for all years, not just the first one.
Great points @wis75 . I am already applying a correction factor to account for 4 years of tuition increases at 6%, and we know as we get down to our finalists that we need to look closely at upperclassmen tuition as well, where it varies, and all fees. Not as a decision factor, but just to have a true affordability picture so we don’t get unpleasantly surprised like my friend did.
“Honors” Colleges / Programs are pretty much a marketing gimmick.
At the end of the day, when you graduate, your diploma will say “XYZ University” the same as anybody else that went there, honors or not.
You can’t (and should not) put “honors college” on your resume as it would look quite silly (and no potential employer would care in any case).
The other thing I’ve noticed when figuring out the final out-of-pocket price is that honors dorms can cost more. D will want to live with her honors classmates, but at what expense?
Any honors college that offers smaller classes, priority registration, professors over TAs, and exclusive educational opportunities outside the classroom is not a gimmick in my book. Even with somewhat hidden costs, OOS honors colleges with merit aid may be the best bet for a lot of families. It’s a good reminder “measure twice, cut once” when it comes to real COA @ohiovalley16
That is if you are looking at it from a pure credential standpoint. Honors courses or honors programs may or may not affect the student’s academic experience in ways that s/he cares about, and that is how their value or lack thereof should be considered.
^^^ “Any honors college that offers smaller classes, priority registration, professors over TAs, and exclusive educational opportunities outside the classroom is not a gimmick in my book.”
That’s where I’m parked as a parent, it has nothing to do with credentials. Particularly to have a semblance of a smaller college experience at some very large schools. “Gimmick” seems a little harsh, although everyone is entitled to their opinion from their own frame of reference.
That is a generalization which does not apply to all programs. Our ds is part of a research honors program which actually confers a minor and that minor teaches substantial research skills–everything from computer programming to participating in research to presenting research. The program has had numerous Goldwater, Hollings, Truman, and Mitchell scholars. That is more than a marketing gimmick.