I saw this on the news tonight. When will a school reach $100,000? The world needs more tradespeople, and headlines like this may help.
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There was already a thread about USC’s list price, which is $95,225 for 2024-2025 according to https://financialaid.usc.edu/undergraduate-financial-aid/cost-of-attendance/
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At an estimated 3% yearly increase it’ll only take 3 years 
Northwestern’s COA is $91,290. Up from $87K
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Ouch.
Just wow.I didn’t think I would have sticker shock- but I do!
Maybe kids should skip college and parents can just buy them a house instead!!
I remember, years ago, Bennington College was always known as the most expensive.
Today it’s list price is a mere $83K+.
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If you had the money to actually pay that amount you could take the $360,000 invest it, get some kind of job not requiring a degree and retire a multi millionaire pretty easily.
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We figured that this will be close by S24s senior year, even starting below 90K.
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Perhaps that is why students from upper middle to upper class families who would be paying list price face so much pressure to aim for elite-pay-level jobs, since most parents would like it if their kids do better than they did, and the financial ROI of list price private college might not make sense if one gets an ordinary pay level job after graduation. But there is very little room for upward mobility when the parents are already in the economic top few percent.
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I would have taken $50k and a ride to the military recruiting office…
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A high academic student interested in and eligible for military service may be interested in applying to service academies and ROTC scholarships.
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Just say no. There are plenty of colleges that cost far less.
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Exactly. And the average NET COA at four year US colleges continues to decrease, and has been for the past decade.
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Honestly, this is where we are and S24 is probably feeling it. He is now deep into figuring out how to get a high paying finance/quant job to justify the COA for his LAC. We would be having a hard time justifying it if he wanted to go into a lower paying field or if there was a certainty of grad school.
We are very lucky to be in a place where we are full pay, we have worked very hard and many others who work just as hard are not in the financial place we are, but i definitely gagged hard when I saw the over 5% raise in fees for this year and the likelihood of this continuing for the next three years.
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And yes there are less expensive choices and I am so happy that my S21 choose one but saying he should just choose a cheaper option is pretty condescending.
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We are full pay and can comfortably afford it but, still, the number does stick in your throat a little (even in the $80s). It isn’t that we are unwilling to pay but something seems a bit awry when some colleges cost this much. Especially when you read about lousy dorms or terrible food at some of these schools . . . (if UMass, a public institution, can provide high quality food there is no excuse for a school charging $90k per year not doing the same). Anyway, allowing our kids to pick where they’d like to go regardless of cost was a choice so I’m not complaining - it’s more an observation.
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As long as people are willing to pay - yep for bad food and bad dorms - then schools will continue to take the money.
It’s really a consumer product like any other - but with great branding on the “value” of the premium priced product (for those able to command full pay).
People can pay $10 for a purse or $1K. They do the same thing - but some feel the benefits they get out of the $1K one make it worth it.
I guess it’s why we have Neiman Marcus and Dollar Stores.
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Yes, the price seems outrageous but we’re paying because it’s the best fit.
D24 wanted:
- A southern school with warm weather
- A T20 school with a business program (not econ)
- Small class sizes (8-12) only taught by by business professors (not GA)
- Collaborative and not competitive vibe
- No Greek system. Known for inclusion
- Access to great restaurants with big city amenities (concerts, activities)
- Diversity ( > 50% people of color, >30% Asians)
- Did not admit by major with freedom to take any class.
There was literally 1 school that checked off all these boxes.
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It’s not condescending to be realistic. College is a product, and there are products available within a large pricing spectrum. In some ways, not being able to afford a “top” school is unfair, from the standpoint that it may keep a student from making connections that might serve them well in their career. I definitely get that. That’s a good issue to debate and if one feels so inclined, to try to address. But when it is my child and we are facing the choice of borrowing for a ridiculously expensive school or paying less for a school that requires less debt … the choice is easy for me.
A student posted a couple years ago about being accepted as a transfer student to their dream school - but they didn’t know how they were going to pay for it. The CC hive encouraged this student to say no. They went anyway, and now they can’t get their diploma because they owe the school almost $20,000, they owe federal & private loans, and they are only able to find a low paying job. I can’t get this student out of my mind. They did not “get ahead” by going to an unaffordable school. They got further behind.
The more families choose to spend less, the more schools will be forced to rethink their pricing model.
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