Why Students are Rejecting the “Top” Colleges
Life + Money

Why Students are Rejecting the “Top” Colleges

iStockphoto/The Fiscal Times

While tuition, room and board has always been a consideration when deciding which college to attend, the exponential rise in costs is preventing a slew of talented people from attending America’s top universities.  

A study released this week by Sallie Mae found that 67 percent of families eliminated colleges based on cost, up from 56 percent of students in 2009. Of those surveyed, 40 percent said they dismissed schools based on cost before they had even researched the school. Families spent an average $21,178 on college, about the same amount they spent the previous year.

The growing influence of college cost on selection reflects a still-sputtering economy , as wages have remained stagnant. Given concerns over their own job security and retirement costs, parents are shouldering less of the tuition burden, and students are increasingly aware that borrowing too much to pay for school could hamper their economic growth for years after graduation.

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 “More families are starting to understand that post-secondary education and training is an investment,” says Anthony Carnevale, director of Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. “It’s a lot of money, and if students overspend, they start their life with that debt hanging over their head.”

That’s a tough sell in an economy where the underemployment rate for young college grads sits at a staggeringly high 44 percent.

The Sallie Mae report finds that student borrowing covered 18 percent of the total cost of college, up from 14 percent prior to the recession, while parent borrowing has remained at a steady 9 percent. Almost a third of students borrowed money for college this year, compared to just 12 percent of parents. Scholarships and grants comprised 30 percent of costs, up from 25 percent four years ago.

RELATED: 10 SMART WAYS TO CUT COLLEGE COSTS

Even wealthy families are borrowing more and spending less on college. Families that make more than $100,000 have curtailed their college spend every year since 2010. Last year, they spent an average $23,900, just 7 percent more than middle-income families. The gap between the groups was 28 percent in 2010.

It’s about the ROI

Today’s families are less likely to see college as valuable for the experience alone, but rather as an investment in the future which will lead to better work and higher earnings for graduates. “Families are not only becoming more cost-conscious, but they’re also more worried about their return on investment,” says financial aid adviser Mark Kantrowitz. “In-state public schools are a much better deal for most families than private schools that charge $50,000 or $60,000 per year and aren’t very generous with their financial aid.”

Most Expensive Colleges

College

Total Cost

New York University
$61,977
Harvey Mudd College
$61,760
Bard College
$61,446
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
$60,779
Sarah Lawrence College
$60,656
Wesleyan University
$60,214
Dartmouth College
$60,201
University of Chicago
$60,039
Bard College at Simon's Rock
$60,003
Trinity College
$59,860
Johns Hopkins University
$59,802
Fordham College
$59,802
Carnegie Mellon University
$59,632
University of Southern California
$59,615
Occidental College
$59,592
Scripps College
$59,570
Oberlin College
$59,474
Haverford College
$59,446
Pitzer College
$59,416
Northwestern University
$54,389
Source: Business Insider

Among his clients, Kantrowitz says that if the difference in the cost of a school is $1,000 or less, families will pick the school that’s a better fit, but if the difference is $5,000 or more, they tend to choose the lower-priced college. Students are also increasingly aware that they may need to go to attend graduate school in order to get into their field, which may require additional loans.

RELATED: HOW A FAMILY LOAN POOL HELPS WITH COLLEGE COSTS

Families should explore all options before making a final decision, says Paul Combe, president and chief executive officer of American Student Assistance. He encourages students to apply at their dream schools and see what kind of financial aid package they’re offered before dismissing potential colleges based on the sticker price. Last year, private colleges offered students an average 45 percent discount off the advertised price via institutional aid.

“You don’t want to eliminate schools based on bad information,” Combe says. “The only way to really know whether you can afford a school is to work through the numbers. Consider what your debt payment will be after graduation.”

The Major Matters
The numbers show that students are starting to realize that that more expensive schools do not always correlate to higher earnings, and one’s major is a far better indicator of future salary than one’s choice of college. Experts often cite a rule of thumb that students not let their total borrowing amount to more than their projected first year’s salary.

“If you want to be a school teacher, the only reason to go to Harvard is if you want to live in Cambridge,” Carnevale says. “It doesn’t matter where you go to school, you’re going to make the same money after you graduate.”

The Sallie Mae study found that social science majors pay the most for their degrees, an average $28,800 but have one of the lowest-paying starting salaries, $36,988. Engineering majors also pay a lot for their degrees, averaging $25,600, but their starting salary, at $63,000, is much higher.

“In the end college selection is a business decision,” says Fred Amrein, founder of CollegeAffordability.com. “Families need to approach it like that. You can’t just hand over $200,000 to an 18-year-old and say, ‘Do what you want, I hope it works out.’”

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