December 15, 2010

Price Wars

Dec. 15, 2010 at 03:56 PM | By Dan Obregon | Comment Count

If the last couple of months are any indication, the higher education battle lines in 2011 will be drawn along cost and affordability. The College Board's report on Trends in College Pricing notes that tuition at public institutions has gone up on average nearly 8 percent last year. Eventhough most students don't pay the full sticker price due to loans, grants and scholarships, it's the initial sticker price that could make a really bad first impression for students and thus hurt a school's chances of attracting otherwise qualified students. As noted recently by the Washington Examiner, "they may be applying to schools based on tuition costs rather than how well the school fits their intellectual and career goals. Consequently, the cost to young people may be far greater than the incremental tuition increases against which they are demonstrating."

So what is your institution to help prevent sticker shock? 2011 is the year that the U.S. Department of Education's net price calculator requirements go into effect, so your institution is no doubt already on top of preparing to meet this requirement. However, how prominently will it be displayed on your Web site and how else will you be looking to promote this to your prospective students? This could make all the difference in terms of helping you make a good first impression or not, and helping price conscience students avoid sticker shock.

On a Side Note: Ironically, the well-publicized tuition hikes in the U.K. have led some to wonder if this could mean a boon in British students traveling to the U.S. eventhough they'd be paying even more than they'd be paying in the U.K. with the new tuition raises. The logic? "Why not go an extra couple of thousand pounds more and have that added bonus of going abroad?"

Unfortunately, unless budget cuts end or the economy miraculously turns around, tuition prices won't be dropping any time soon. As such, students that do invest in higher education will want to make sure they get the biggest bang for their buck. In a world driven by ROI, those institutions that do a good job here could put themselves at a competitive advantage in the fight to recruit students.

View INFOGRAPHIC from Mint.com: "On The Rise: The Cost of College"