I suspect that $30k/year does cover costs if there are a sufficient number of students enrolled. Now how many students is sufficient is a different question, but I would be very surprised if Beloit, Wheaton, etc. hadn’t run the numbers to make sure that they weren’t digging themselves a hole by choosing this number.
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I was at Beloit for a college reunion this fall, and one of the Deans addressed that- he said that the $30k all-in pricing does cover their costs. My DH has been an admin (a dean) at his LAC, and he said the actual COA at most schools is lower than people realize. We currently have this model of high income families being full pay w/ overinflated tuitions, while low income families often pay next to nothing (which is good- we want to encourage FGLI kids to attend college!)
I think this new model is to attract the donut hole families to fill the gap of the lowered enrollment they’ve experienced. Times are tight for all LACs once you get out of the T40ish range. And to answer your question, no- the facilities, food and teaching are not lacking. Departments are mostly tenured/non-adjunct faculty. Many schools invest big chunks of money into much needed renovations, which does bring down their assets and thus their ranking…but they’re still strong institutions with nicer labs, dorms and classroom spaces.
If a student has an opportunity to attend a school with an endowment of billions of dollars, fantastic. They’ll have lots of opportunities and funded research, clubs, etc. But most of those schools are so competitive that there need to be other options for affordable higher ed.
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