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Taking the Lead on Financial Aid: Dartmouth, Stanford, Brown
We hate to say we told you so, but as we predicted, an increasing number of private colleges have continued to cut tuition deals for middle and lower-income families. Following the lead of big boys like Harvard and Yale, now Dartmouth, Stanford and Brown have introduced new financial-aid plans of their own.
Can this be guilt? A realization that most of its students are graduating with debt in the sextuple (it’s a word, we swear!) digits? Altruism in its truest form?
Unfortunately, it’s probably none of the above. Private colleges are ultimately businesses that a) adhere to the same formula of supply and demand as your local 7-Eleven and need to compete for your dollar and b) have gotten their arms twisted by the Senate to dip into their endowments.
Here’s a roundup of the latest selfless acts of kindness scheduled to kick in this fall:
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Financial-Aid Price Wars: Yale Fires Back
A few weeks ago, we wondered why Harvard’s competitors weren’t matching its price cut for middle and upper middle-class students. Now, Yale has responded to its Ivy League competitor with some financial-aid news of its own.
Less than a month after Harvard upped the ante by eliminating loans from its financial-aid programs and created a formula that would lower tuition payments for low and middle-income students, Yale announced that it too will use its endowment to fund more financial aid. Read More »
Why Don’t They… Just Match Harvard’s Generosity?
Starting next fall, Harvard announced on Monday, families earning between $120,000 and $180,000 won’t have to pay more than 10% of their annual income towards tuition. The school will also eliminate loans from its award packages and take the equity that a family has in its home out of the financial-aid equation.
Harvard isn’t the first school to eliminate loans from financial-aid packages. But none have reached out to the middle and upper-middle class the way Harvard did this week, let alone with a policy that’s so easy to understand.
Now that Harvard has taken the lead among other schools in terms of financial-aid offerings, we decided to call some Harvard competitors that have introduced improved aid programs themselves in recent years and see if they planned to match Harvard’s move.
Here’s what the spokespeople for the schools said: Read More »
College in Hawaii: An Even Better Deal than we Thought
Last week, we mentioned a study noting that students who attend college in Hawaii graduate with the lowest average student-loan debt in the country, a mere $11,758.
Life on a tropical island and affordable college? I found it difficult to believe. To get the lowdown, I called Sarah, a friend from high school who attends the University of Oregon, but decided to spend this fall at University of Hawaii at Manoa through an exchange program. Although I interrupted her beach time, she was kind enough to briefly talk finance.
Through her exchange program, she gets to pay Hawaii’s in-state tuition, even though she’s a resident of Oregon. Her annual tuition is $5,136 at U.H. Manoa and $6,174 in Oregon. Out-of-state tuition is $14,400 at U.H. Manoa and $19,338 at the U of O. Since U.H. Manoa is on semesters and the U of O is on trimesters, she’s actually getting an extra half-term of classes done at the lower price, all of which will count towards her degree.
According to Sarah, the U.H. Manoa financial aid office offered to help her organize her federal loans and avoid taking out private loans at a higher interest rate. “Everything was so nice and easy,” Sarah said. “Me and the financial aid people, we’re down.”
Her rent is about the same (around $600), although she admits that dwellings near Waikiki Beach get pricier, as do most things, because the tourists there will pay more. U.H.-Manoa’s on-campus housing is $500 cheaper for the year than the U of O dorms, which are often likened to dungeons. Private apartment rent (which is what she’s rockin’) is about the same as it is in Oregon.
The price of a lunch at either campus is “about the same,” but certain meats and milk can be pricey in Hawaii. In Oregon, Sarah and other students spend lots at the gas pump, but U.H. Manoa gives its students transit passes (included with the tuition) for the “amazing” public transportation, giving students complete access to the island. And getting there? Hawaiian Airlines now has non-stop flights out of Portland under $200 each way.
Entertainment can be pricey, but most club cover charges top out around $10, and scooters rent for $35 for 24 hours.
And all of the beaches are free. Sigh.
College in Hawaii: Sunnier, Cheaper
According to a study released last week by the non-profit Project on Student Debt, Hawaii has the lowest student-loan debt levels in the country. The study, titled “Student Debt and the Class of 2006,” indicates that students attending colleges in Hawaii graduate with the lowest average debt in the nation: $11,758.
The only other state that comes close is Kentucky at $15,406. The state with the highest debt? New Mexico, where students graduate with an epic debt of $28,770. (Many schools did not provide complete data, but this survey of student debt is still one of the most comprehensive to date.)
So why does getting your college degree among palm trees and sandy beaches not cost as much? Well unlike, say, Washington, D.C. or New York, people who move to Hawaii tend to stay there and raise families. Their kids, therefore, pay cheaper in-state tuition at state schools. In-state tuition at University of Hawaii Hilo, for example, is $1,764. Compare that with the average tuition at a four-year private university (currently $22,287) and you can see why these students aren’t buried in debt like I am.
Another reason for the low debt figures: Since many students are locals, they often live with their families–that means no room and board tacked on to the tuition bill.
Robert Shireman, executive director of the Project on Student Debt, suggests that the low debt levels may also be due to higher income levels in Hawaii. According to the latest census data, Hawaii’s median household income is $53,123 compared with New Mexico’s $37,587.
So if you were looking for an excuse to move to Hawaii (”I’m doing it for the children”), there you go. Don’t forget to send us some macadamia nuts when you get there.
Things I Wish I Hadn’t Said in the Financial Aid Office
Not to gang up on the NYU financial aid office, but I too have stood in front of those teller windows many a time ready to throw down over a lost scholarship check or paperwork that the school forgot to process.
I was not quite as sharp as Mary at first. I would march up to those windows reciting my social security number, my mother’s income, my home address and my date of birth with immense pride that I managed to memorize all that stuff in the first place—sort of the way a five year-old responds when you ask him his age. All while the line of other students was typically within arms reach.
I got smarter around the same time that I realized that I shouldn’t throw my credit-card statements into the same trash as my Ramen wrappers. That’s when my financial aid office demeanor changed. I began to lean way into the teller windows, sticking my head inside the square openings, practically whispering my numbers and fact bits into the tellers’ laps.
Or you can do the car salesman bit, which is what Mary just told me she did. Scribble answers on a piece of paper, fold it, and slip it underneath your hand to the window person the way you would when negotiating a car’s sale price.
Or better yet, now that you know these “private rooms” exist—which by the way no one ever told me about in my four years of invading financial aid officers’ personal space—use them!
Things I wish I didn’t Overhear in the Financial Aid Office
“How much is my bill?”
“What’s my expected family contribution?”
“When is the deadline for paying my tuition balance?”
What’s wrong with these questions? Nothing, except while I waited in line at my university’s financial-aid office last week, I could hear other students asking all of them, along with answers laden with private information. I’m all about on-campus bonding, but should I, or anyone, be able to hear any of this stuff? Not to mention be tempted to repeat it?
The New York University financial-aid office, like many others around the country, is designed to mimic a bank. The tellers are on one side, and the customers are on the other. Except that transactions that should be private are sometimes completely audible to bystanders. Sometimes lines snake around and put you only a few feet away from a student discussing personal financial issues. Not only is this a breach of privacy, but it also puts you at risk for identity theft.
John Beckman, head of NYU Public Affairs, told me that the financial aid office was designed to offer privacy like a bank does and that private rooms are available if students wants more privacy. Anyone — at any school — who’s stressed about snoops shouldn’t be shy about requesting a side room. It’s also possible to talk to financial-aid officers by phone or via e-mail.
