Stanford to cut tutition to $0 for a third of their students

[DegenerateDish]

Interesting to hear. With endowments being what they are these days, I wouldn't be surprised to see some schools follow. You would think with Harvard's $6 billion (or whatever the number actually is) in the bank that they could follow suit.

Stanford Cuts Tuition for Some Students
By Associated Press
11:56 AM CST, February 20, 2008

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Attending Stanford University next year will be a lot more affordable for some undergraduate students.

The university said Wednesday it plans to eliminate tuition for students with annual family incomes totaling less than $100,000. It also will pay most room and board for students with families making less than $60,000.

Financial aid director Karen Cooper says the move comes as middle-income parents express concern about paying for a Stanford education.

Stanford tuition is expected to rise to $36,000 in the fall. Room and board will cost about $11,000. About a third of the university's 6,700 undergraduates are expected to qualify for the tuition break.

[Boognish_MU]

Someone should forward this story onto Fr. Wild

[TallTitan34]

Woah!

[Sir Lawrence]

Not too surprising based on the donations pouring into the place (from today's NYT):

Wealth Gap Growing Bigger Among American Colleges 

By KAREN W. ARENSON
Published: February 20, 2008

Stanford University had an exceptional year for fund-raising in 2007, collecting $832 million in private donations. Harvard, too, reaped a bounty, with $614 million in gifts.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I don't think Duke will be doing it anytime soon, all 38 Duke Lacrosse players filed suit against the university today.  Something screams large settlement coming out of a fund somewhere in Durham.


As for Stanford, interesting approach by them.  I wonder how many students at Stanford come from families below $100k?  My niece and nephew both played water polo there and graduated within the last 5 years...I'd say almost all of their friends that I met seemed to come from upwardly mobile families.  That being said, kids often tend to congregate with similar kids (backgrounds, etc).  I'd be curious if this is 10% of their student body, or 35% or what the number is.  Nevertheless, great news for the kids that will get the free ride. 

It would also be interesting to see if they jack up tuition or if they freeze it for those that aren't getting the free ride.

[rocky_warrior]

Interesting that they seem to be actually charging lower tuition as opposed to offering more "need based" scholarships.

I realize there is no $$ difference to the university, but you'd think it would
1) be more difficult to manage different tuition rates
2) piss off the >100k crowd that their tuition was higher

[chapman]

It is strange.  It would stink for a family earning $105,000 to owe $36,000 in tuition while a family earning $95,000 got free tuition. 

[spiral97]

If I were making $101,000 and my kid wanted to go to Stanford, I'd consider asking my boss to cut my salary by $1500.

[BrewCity83]

If I were making $101,000 and my kid wanted to go to Stanford, I'd consider asking my boss to cut my salary by $1500.

I think you meant "defer".

[Wareagle]

Stanford appears to be one upping Harvard's recently announced tuition reduction policy.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/26/pf/college/harvard/index.htm

"Under the new plan, families earning between $60,000 and $120,000 will pay a percentage of their income, rising to 10 percent. Families with incomes between $120,000 and $180,000 will have to pay 10 percent of their incomes."

[spiral97]

If I were making $101,000 and my kid wanted to go to Stanford, I'd consider asking my boss to cut my salary by $1500.

I think you meant "defer".

depends on the tax implications   maybe an automatic paycheck donation of sorts that doesn't count as part of taxable income.

[muwarrior87]

Someone should forward this story onto Fr. Wild

that would be great but MU's endowments are NOWHERE near Stanford's or Harvard.  Fr. Wild is doing a helluva job getting the endowments increased though which is definitely helpful.

[chapman]

If I were making $101,000 and my kid wanted to go to Stanford, I'd consider asking my boss to cut my salary by $1500.

I think you meant "defer".

depends on the tax implications   maybe an automatic paycheck donation of sorts that doesn't count as part of taxable income.

I guess that's the catch.  If a family is making $115,000, they can donate $16,000 to reduce their taxable income instead of paying $36,000 in tuition.  What's the first place they will consider/be pressured into donating to?

[reinko]

I work in the field of financial aid out here in Boston, and these moves by these select universities are nice and all, but they are basically PR stunts.  The amount of free press they get outweighs the actual money invested in financial aid.  Harvard has over $35 billion in the bank earning on average 20% per year, and only spends about $21 million per year on financial aid.  In comparison, MU has an endowment around $300-$400 million.  And MU's freshmen class (around 1900) is bigger than all of Harvard College (about 1650).

These schools are not increasing their # of lower income students at their schools, they are just giving the ones that can get in free rides.  In some ways they are making harder for students to get in because these moves increase the # of applications, thus giving all students a lower chance at getting accepted.

[🏀]

Anyone else see this creating a rift between student at Stanford?

[reinko]

For anyone would like to read about what other college are doing, check out this resource.

http://www.finaid.org/questions/noloansforlowincome.phtml