I was speaking with a parent of a soccer player recently and she made the comment “it’s a state school so it will be much more affordable”.
Many people are under the misconception that public colleges and universities are less expensive than private institutions. Sticker prices at public colleges are often less daunting than those of their private counterparts, however, once academic, athletic and need based aid is taken into consideration the final financial package often tells a very different story.
Most private colleges and universities provide financial assistance for many of their students. Yale University, for example, is reducing the average cost of sending a student to Yale College by over 50% for families with financial need. This new policy will apply to all students returning to campus in the fall as well as entering freshmen. This represents the largest increase in spending for financial aid in the University’s history.
The reduction in costs will be spread across a broad range of incomes. Families with incomes below $120,000 will see their contributions cut by more than 50%, while most families with incomes between $120,000 and $200,000 will see cost reductions of 33% or more.
Families earning less than $60,000 annually will not make any contribution toward the cost of a child’s education, and families earning $60,000 to $120,000 will typically contribute from 1% to 10% of total family income. The contribution of aided families earning above $120,000 will average 10% of income.
According to a recent study conducted here at NCSA, the average scholarship (academic, athletic and need-based funds) at public schools totaled $12,850.19. The average private school award totaled a whopping $21,266.10.
Do not be misled by the figure you see on a college website. Once you dig deeper and take advantage of your academic and athletic talent there is a lot of aid available.
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