American College Tuition Rising: record-breaking competition for slots at elite colleges
US College Tuition Rising: Admissions season makes colleges sweat
Another year of record-breaking competition for slots at elite colleges is over. Now it’s time for the colleges to sweat.
Continuing a long-term trend, the acceptance rate at many of the country’s most selective colleges inched down this year to ever-more agonizing levels for parents and students. Harvard (7.1 percent), Yale (8.3 percent) and Stanford (9.5 percent) were among the growing number of schools where more than nine in 10 applicants are denied. Middlebury (18 percent) and Duke (19 percent) are among the many others reporting record selectivity.
But now, the pressure switches to colleges, who generally give students a month after April 1 admissions notifications to make up their minds whether to attend.
If colleges admit too few students, they can end up with empty spaces. Too many, and they could get stuck housing extra freshmen in trailers on the quad.
This year, it’s a bigger guessing game than ever. The decisions by Harvard, Princeton and the University of Virginia to eliminate early admissions this year forced those schools to tear up decades-old models that allowed them to accurately estimate how many students who were admitted would actually come — decisions that trickle down to other schools.
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Meanwhile, several dozen colleges, among them Harvard, Dartmouth, Swarthmore and Tufts, announced expansions of financial aid in recent months. Nobody knows exactly what effect that will have on students’ choices.
“From an admissions perspective, it’s been quite a chaotic year,” said David Hawkins, director of public and research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling. “The story of the year seems to be the continued and even increasing uncertainty that faced both students and colleges.”
Students who have just endured the process probably won’t mind seeing the tables turned when it comes to anxiety.
“I can tell you we modeled in mathematically, spiritually, humanistically — in a million ways — and nobody knows (how many will come),” said William Fitzsimmons, a one-time statistics teacher and now dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard.
Added John Blackburn, Fitzsimmons’ counterpart at Virginia: “It’s been scary, no ‘ifs,’ ‘ands’ or ‘buts.’”
It’s scary for both sides — the schools and students’ families. With a population bubble increasing the number of teenagers, elite colleges can seem incredibly difficult to crack.
Among other colleges releasing numbers this week, Princeton admitted a record-low 9.3% of applicants, Columbia 10%, Penn 16%, Boston College 26% and Virginia, which is state-supported, 38%.
Still, that’s not quite the full story. Nationally, the average acceptance rate for colleges is roughly 70% — about what it was 20 years ago.
What’s really changed is that more colleges are recruiting all over the country, and more students are applying to a large number of schools. The trend feeds on itself. Students apply to more schools, each school gets more applications, and the admissions rate goes down. Students get scared, so they apply to more schools. And the cycle continues. But while it means good students are more likely to get rejected by at least some upper-tier schools, they are getting more acceptance letters, too.
The admissions dean with the biggest headache this month isn’t complaining one bit. Christopher Gruber of Davidson College had already finished selecting his class late last month, when suddenly his tiny school of 1,700 went on a spectacular run of upsets through the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, falling just short of this weekend’s Final Four.
Now he’s wondering if the wave of national publicity will force Davidson’s dormitories, classrooms and cafeterias to accommodate a much larger-than-expected number of admitted students next fall.
“The current joke is, ‘Chris, how many spare bedrooms do you have at your house?’” Gruber said. But it’s a good problem to have.
“It doesn’t get any better,” he said. “People saw us in a good light.”
Stay tuned America! We’ll soon be hearing about colleges suggesting new government subsidized voucher programs to allow “kids who would not otherwise be able to afford” college. It will have little to do with offering opportunities and more to do with providing colleges with extra taxpayer money to hold them over until they are flush with cash again.
The admissions dean with the biggest headache this month isn’t complaining one bit. Christopher Gruber of Davidson College had already finished selecting his class late last month, when suddenly his tiny school of 1,700 went on a spectacular run of upsets through the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, falling just short of this weekend’s Final Four.
Now he’s wondering if the wave of national publicity will force Davidson’s dormitories, classrooms and cafeterias to accommodate a much larger-than-expected number of admitted students next fall.
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Makes you think twice when you question what athletics do for a college. Give the bro’s a so-called scholarship. Let them pretend to go to class (knowing there’s no way they’ll graduate), sell replicas of their jerseys, etc. It’s all about revenue.
This is why the coaches make millions while the professors make thousands. How many high school non-athlete students want to go to a college for the fame of its sports programs? I wouldn’t have dreamed it except for the above story.
This is a joke right? Middle class are the only class who really have to pay for college. People want their kids to have the best future possible so they support that dream. Wealthy often get a psss based on who they know. Poor qualify for FAFSA and other grants. Middle class actually foot the bill for their kids education. Whats wrong is we deny certain classes assistance
Not exactly. The wealthy often pay full tutiton. Their connections can sometimes help a kid get admitted, but they don’t attend for free. Only the very poor don’t pay, but they don’t get into college in large enough numbers to really make much of a dent.
College is more expensive now in part because colleges have to do so much more to attract the top students. top of the line gym facilities, wireless dorms for everybody, increased student services staff to assist little Johnny in his every need, etc. And where did that demand come from? Middle class kids and their parents. Y’all are part of the problem.
For the inside scoop, read this great book written by a REAL former college admissions officer: A is for Admission, by Michele Hernandez. She used her experience as a Dartmouth (Ivy League) admissions officer to uncover the real facts about admissions.
Money won’t do it unless the parents can buy a friggin building. Got several million lying around?
Connections don’t always mean diddly……depends on what kind they are.
Perfect scores and grades don’t always get a kid in.
Minorities, athletes, legacies, and other special interest groups get better treatment.
You don’t have to believe me; read her book. There are others out there, too, written by former admissions officers. They sing the same song with slightly different lyrics.
This common perception has no basis in reality. It is however the mantra of those who don’t get into their school of choice.
Donations help when you have met a certain threshold qualification and there is an available slot. But the kids of rich parents have a rude awakening if they think daddy’s gonna buy their way into college. Sorry… there are too many hard-working kids out there that the colleges would rather accept and take credit for when said individual makes a name for him or herself.
Having some other marketable skill (evidence of emotional intelligence, athletic prowess, leadership, community stewardship) also helps. Again… a good school isn’t going to waste their time on the chump of a rich parent when there are so many good applicants out there. They have reputations to protect.
Rising tuition is caused by easy money from the feds and it is immoral to say anything bad about big government or especially the federal Department of Education.
This is a joke right? Middle class are the only class who really have to pay for college. People want their kids to have the best future possible so they support that dream. Wealthy often get a psss based on who they know. Poor qualify for FAFSA and other grants. Middle class actually foot the bill for their kids education. Whats wrong is we deny certain classes assistance
Not exactly. The wealthy often pay full tutiton. Their connections can sometimes help a kid get admitted, but they don’t attend for free. Only the very poor don’t pay, but they don’t get into college in large enough numbers to really make much of a dent.
College is more expensive now in part because colleges have to do so much more to attract the top students. top of the line gym facilities, wireless dorms for everybody, increased student services staff to assist little Johnny in his every need, etc. And where did that demand come from? Middle class kids and their parents. Y’all are part of the problem.
Why is it that the rising cost of education at the college level is never demonized like big oil?
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