The correct median income figure to use is for the age cohort that is most likely to be paying for college, not the national median income. Per the following page, the median income figure for the age group between 45 to 54 (the age group most like to be paying for college) currently is a little over $70,000.
^ Using $70K as the family income, by my reckoning the Wesleyan net price increases to $15,836, and
the net price to attend one directional state university in my state, at in-state prices after aid, would be $$13,904. Of course, as you go up the income scale, Wesleyan’s net price premium does go up.
(And my NPC inputs probably weren’t exactly the same as the ones that went into post #10. YMMV.)
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis arrived at that figure by sampling a three month period from October to December of 2010 and imputing that only 55 percent of all student loans at any given time were actually due and owing. From there, they recalculated the official default rate of 15% thereby arriving at the conclusion that 27% of all student loans were in default:
It is an interesting point, but, begs the question whether at any point in the discussion we are actually comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges; the official Dept. of Education figures or the St. Louis Federal Reserve figures?
According to one site, the delinquency rate for Wesleyan University student borrowers is .09%:
http://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/wesleyan-university/paying-for-college/student-loan-debt/
Is there any reason we should dispute that?