In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, graduating seniors at Sweet Briar college participate in the traditional senior ride on the quad in front of the library at the school in Sweet Briar, Va., Wednesday, May 13, 2015. The senior ride is a tradition where seniors are allowed to ride horses on school grounds. The school is scheduled to close in August with the final commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 16. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
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With higher education costs skyrocketing across the country, Sweet Briar College, a women’s liberal arts college in rural Virginia, is making headlines because it’s slashing tuition and fees.
The private college’s new rates are a 32% reduction from the “sticker price” that few people actually pay.
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Sweet Briar says the changes for the 2018-2019 academic year provide cost transparency and predictability for families of all income levels. The total for tuition, fees, room and board will be $34,000.
Need-based financial aid and scholarships will continue, but the discount rate is expected to drop significantly.
“Discount rates are confusing for students and families, and the high-tuition, high-discount rate model only works for a small number of institutions,” said Meredith Woo, president of Sweet Briar College. “It requires a large number of full-pay students or an exceptionally large endowment for the numbers to work.”
Sweet Briar and other colleges that reset their rates are hoping it will make them more competitive with public universities, particularly when it comes to higher out-of-state tuition rates.
The key thing to remember is that the sticker price can be misleading because it doesn’t factor in discounts.
The U.S. Department of Education has a tool on its website that helps you determine the net price, which is the amount that a student pays to attend college after subtracting scholarships and grants.
Should more colleges and universities abandon the high-tuition, high-discount rate model? Tell us on Facebook and Twitter.
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