An NPR Planet Money article, “College Costs: Beyond the Sticker Price,” points out that “the sticker price for a year of college is a lot different than what people actually pay.” And the good news, is that few people actually pay those exorbitant, always-increasing sticker prices.
Through the apportioning out of scholarships, grants, and loans, colleges make efforts to make colleges affordable, while simultaneously increasing college costs through the roof. The NPR article calls the “combination of higher prices and more scholarships…good marketing.” The higher the price, the higher the value of the school – or at least that’s what many students (and their parents) believe; so the high sticker price actually attracts more applicants instead of deterring them.
A new College Board report shows that the discount rate for four-year private colleges increased from 28.6% in 2000-2001 to 33.1$ in 2008-2009. The discount rate at four-year public schools, on the other hand, actually dropped 2.2% during that same period, from 20.5% to 18.3%.
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Read the full article: College Tuition: More than Meets the Eye?
