USA Today: If Purdue can freeze tuition, so can others

Parents Forum
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<p><a href=“If Purdue can freeze tuition, so can others: Our view”>http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/05/12/college-costs-purdue-university-tuition-editorials-debates/9019497/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I especially liked the comment by Purdue President Mitch Daniels about cutting food service costs. "Too many colleges, Daniels says, have engaged in an arms race to attract students with expensive amenities such as gourmet meals. “If you haven’t been on a college campus lately, you wouldn’t recognize it,” he says. “The food (is) supposed to be standard and bad. … I say to my students, ‘Do you guys understand that higher ed has been around for a millennium and, until the last few years, every college student everywhere hated the food?’”</p>

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<p>What Daniels seems to recognize is that economics is a somewhat opaque area. By that I mean that there are limits to things like price increases, and there are effects that are subtle and may not be recognized instantly. Often your apprehension of the limit(s) or the effects occurs on a delayed basis after some action is taken. </p>

<p>I like his comment about adjusting our own budget instead of asking our families to adjust theirs.</p>

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<p>Very interesting. The food on campus was one thing they boasted several times when we visited Purdue last Summer. I have to admit it was a nice thing to have although not essential and not a main criteria for final decision. While a tuition freeze would be an attractive point. Nevertheless, Purdue is doing that year by year, while UIUC would fix the tuition for the next 4 years for each freshman. That should be the policy other schools should learn from.</p>

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<p>Food is probably a really bad example. Most colleges pay a so-called ‘living wage’ which includes full benefits for cafeteria workers, even though such practice is uncommon in industry. Thus, a college’s food delivery costs are inflated to begin with.</p>

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<p>What does fancy food have to do with tuition? They are billed separately.</p>

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<p>Of course, state university tuition increases tend to be associated with economic downturns that cause state budget problems.</p>

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<p>Food service costs were just one example of what Purdue has done to contain costs. It also mentioned combining and eliminating administrative positions, etc. I just thought the food comment was humorous. Also at a school like Purdue, room and board is often as expensive as tuition for an in-state student. </p>

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<p>I’m wary of any blanket statement about tuition levels being stabilized. I’ll recount some reasons why.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>At any college or university, the sticker price tuition cost is different – usually way higher – than the average cost after financial aid is taken into account. I recall specifically one small liberal arts college in the Midwest that I visited last year. Administrators there openly talked with me (a visitor) about the heavy discounting and the problem they had in recruiting enough full-pay (no discount) students to balance their budget.</p></li>
<li><p>At state colleges and universities, the headline tuition cost (price before discounting) is the cost for undergraduate, in-state students. Graduate student tuition is higher than undergraduate. Undergraduate tuition rates – the headline rates published by the colleges, discussed in the legislatures, and “headlined” in news media – are in-state rates for undergraduates.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>In the meantime, tuition rates for graduate and professional students can be significantly higher, and the discounting (merit and need based financial aid) that is common for undergraduates may be limited.</p>

<p>And tuition rates for out of state (OOS) students are much much higher than for in-state students. The financial incentives – along with reputational incentives – for state universities to recruit out of state students are well known. They have led some state legislatures to impose or limits on the percentage of OOS students, so that instate applicants have a fair chance to compete for admission.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Fees are typically not included in the headline tuition rates. In some majors that are technology intensive, special fees may be tacked on.</p></li>
<li><p>International students not only have significantly higher published tuition rates but they are also much more likely to be full-pay students, i.e., without discounting. Moreover, the proportion of students who are internationals has been growing rapidly in recent years at many first-and second-tier colleges and universities. At my own university, for example, the number of undergraduate students from China has roughly doubled in the last 3 years. (Hey I like China – have been there 5 times – and Chinese students, so I’m not being xenophobic, just trying to illustrate a point.) These are full-pay students. They often buy new cars when they arrive in town. It’s a boon to the local economy AND to the tuition income of my university! This helps to pay for my salary and fringe benefits.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Conclusion:</p>

<p>When President Mitch Daniels touts the commitment by Purdue University to keep tuition constant, it can be inspiring. Great for students and their families from Indiana! But if you go to Purdue’s webpage, you also read this: </p>

<p>“This year over 8,700 students and more than 1,100 faculty and staff, representing 125 countries, are a part of the Purdue Boilermaker family. Purdue University is proud of its rich cultural diversity. This fall semester we rank second in international student enrollment among all public United States colleges and universities.” Link: <a href=“http://www.iss.purdue.edu/”>http://www.iss.purdue.edu/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Purdue can thus draw on its well-deserved reputation in engineering and other technical fields to get both OOS and international students to pay full tuition to attend.</p>

<p>But the grandstanding about holding tuition down is too much!</p>

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<p>@Machinaw^^ I agree, however since tuition/fee increases tend to be increased as a percentage, OOS students benefit more from holding tuition in check. 2-5% of $28000 is significantly more than 2-5% of $10000. Indiana has a fairly modest population for a state that has two flagship universities. The percentage of students internationally and out of state at these Indiana institutions is probably higher than at most flagships. Another advantage Indiana has is that it has two fairly populace states on either side of it with no reciprocal agreements with either of them. It is likely easier for Indiana to get the necessary number of full pay or out of state students without limiting Indiana applicants than other state flagships. My D goes to Purdue. We live about 30 miles as the crow flies from the Indiana state line. It would be nice to have in state tuition. </p>

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<p>

Mackinaw, I’d generally agree with you there. I’ve seen some school that tack on almost as much in fees as they charge for tuition. Mandatory $500 annual health care fees, $300 athletic fees, class fees, registration fees, lab fees, student activities fees…
I’m impressed that Purdue seems not to charge additional mandatory fees other than a couple of fees specific to programs (technology, engineering, and management.) According to the school website the $10,000 in-state, $28,800 out of state numbers are for tuition + fees.
<a href=“Tuition and Fees - Undergraduate Admissions - Purdue University”>http://admissions.purdue.edu/costsandfinaid/tuitionfees.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I guess MD does not understand tuition versus room and board costs.Bad food mandatory–that’s a new low for political arguments…</p>

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<p>In my experience, real and announced (widely publicized) tuition increases usually only refer to the in-state undergraduate rate. That’s all I ever hear legislators and governors talk about, too. I never read about the OOS and international rates or the graduate/professional school rates. </p>

<p>I meant to give more emphasis to the fact that a critical question for most students is what is the actual cost to them of attending – which is equal to the posted or headline price minus the discount (financial aid). If a university president is going to tout a certain in-state tuition rate, then he or she should speak about the average cost to the attendees after discounts. The posted, nominal tuition rate can stay the same while the average cost increases at the same time. </p>

<p>I would love to see colleges and universities publish their average cost to students in various groups (instate, OOS, international) as well as the posted prices (official tuition and fees). (Won’t talk about room and board rates here.) They like to publish figures on the percentage of enrolled students who receive financial aid. But it’s hard to find data on average actual costs to students. And I would love to know whether the posted costs to in-state students are sometimes held down while the average actual costs might be increasing (b/c the discounting, i.e., financial aid, is more limited). Further, I’d like to know whether the number of undergraduate students admitted who come from in-state is being constricted so that full-pay OOS/international students can be accommodated.</p>

<p>An analogous situation pertains to private universities. The elite privates are admitting more and more full-pay international students, while actually reducing the number of available slots for domestic students. So even if the tuition were being contained or is subsidized for domestic students, their odds of getting admitted at all are reduced perhaps in part b/c the college or university has chosen to enroll more full-pay international students to balance their budget.</p>

<p>In sum, we need a lot more information than the headlines tell us.</p>

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<p>In WA, our fine state government voted to freeze tuition for the year at the state colleges and are able to grandstand on their accomplishment. The reality is that they are paying for it by reducing their already meager need-based aid. I do not consider this a good thing.</p>

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<p>Also OOS and int students have gone way UP in WA at Udub.</p>

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<p>Yes, the present situation at U Washington-Seattle fits Mackinaw’s synopsis to a “T;” UW has admitted substantially more OOS and internationals in recent years, kids whom pay full freight when they enroll. Lots of huffing and puffing about it in message boards, but it’s cash that the legislature no longer provides. UW officials are cashing in on the increasing renown of the university’s engineering and computer science programs domestically and in the Pacific Rim.</p>

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<p>If one was accepted to Purdue (or other Elite college), there are places out there where the kid would be offerred full tuition Merit. So, what is an issue? One can choose to go for free or go expensive place, it is a personal choice. </p>