Some thoughts about the cost of a Lawrence education
By
Kenneth L. Anselment III
Director of admissions
Lawrence Today magazine, Summer 2007
“If people weren’t provincial and if they were concerned only with
quality, Lawrence would be considered as selective as any school. But, until
things change, there is no greater educational bargain in the country.”— Loren
Pope, Colleges That Change Lives
With a total cost of attendance (tuition, room and board, and personal expenses) approaching the $40,000 mark for the 2007-08 academic year, the “greatest educational bargain in the country” mentioned in the quote above may be hard for some people to swallow — especially for many Lawrence University alumni who want to promote their alma mater but are reluctant to do so because of the high cost.
The not-so-good news
Lawrence alumni are not alone. Their counterparts from other colleges, both
private and public, often feel the same way, and it is easy to see why. According
to a report by the College Board (Trends in College
Pricing 2005), the average
cost of attendance (in constant 2005 dollars) at the nation’s four-year
colleges has more than doubled over the past 30 years. In the 1975-76 academic
year, the average cost of a four-year public institution was $5,885; the
average cost of a four-year private institution was $12,939. By the 2005-06
academic year, those costs had ballooned to $12,127 for public institutions
(an increase of 106 percent) and $29,026 for private institutions (an increase
of 124 percent).
If the increasing cost of attendance is the jab of a one-two punch hitting
families in their finances, decreasing federal and state financial aid is the
left hook. You need look no further than the Pell Grant to see what has happened
to governmental support for families of college-bound students. The Pell Grant,
established in 1965 as part of the Higher Education Act, was originally designed
to be the federal government’s way to help low-income families pay for
the majority of the cost of attendance at a four-year public institution.
In the years since its inception, however, the Pell Grant has lost much of
its purchasing power. According to a 2006 report by the National Association
for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), the maximum Pell Grant covers only
36 percent of the average cost of attendance at a four-year public institution;
it covers only 15 percent at a four-year private institution.
Although today’s maximum Pell Grant is $4,050, most Pell recipients receive
less than half that. If the government had kept funding the Pell Grant at the
level needed to fulfill its original goal, the current maximum award would
be more than $11,000. As the 110th Congress prepares to reauthorize the Higher
Education Act in 2007 and party members fight over which side can do more for
the Pell Grant, the highest proposed award still would only raise the level
to about half of where it should be.
At the state level, budgets — and the funding for grants to families
seeking higher education — are facing similar pressures, especially with
a staggering number of students in the college-bound population (the largest
in history) competing for a piece of a pie that used to feed a smaller population.
The better news
Despite these intense financial challenges facing the country’s college-bound
students, things are not all bad when it comes to financing a college education,
especially at Lawrence.
Steven T. Syverson, dean of admissions and financial aid, acknowledges that
money will always be a part of a family’s decision whether to attend
a particular college, but that Lawrence aims to minimize the influence that money has on a student’s
decision to enroll.
“We are committed to making it financially viable for all of our admitted
students to choose Lawrence,” Syverson says, although he is quick to
add, “Of course, if all of our admitted students chose to enroll we would
have a housing problem.”
To reach a targeted freshman class size of 350, Lawrence will admit nearly
four times that many (this year out of an applicant pool of 2,600), realizing
that approximately three-quarters of them will ultimately choose to enroll
elsewhere. It’s a guessing game that most colleges must play with their
admission operation.
Even though Lawrence ranks among the more expensive universities in the country,
families are often surprised by how affordable Lawrence can be.
“A big part of the challenge,” Syverson notes, “is educating
students and families in how to understand college finances. We have to help
them look beyond the sticker price of college.
“When they do, they will see that 85 percent of Lawrence’s students
receive need- or merit-based financial assistance; the average need-based financial
aid package for first-year students in the 2006-07 academic year exceeded $23,000.”
Lawrence employs a variety of tools to make the experience more accessible:
scholarships, grants, student employment, and loans. (To see how those tools
come together for families from diverse financial circumstances, please consult
the accompanying charts.)
While college loan debt is not only a reality but often a heavy burden for
the vast majority of the nation’s college graduates, Lawrence University
has historically managed to administer average financial-aid packages that
allow its graduates to leave with debt loads that are comparable to those of
students graduating from a certain well-known flagship institution in our state
capital.
Even after making the case for Lawrence’s affordability, there is often
a need to educate families on the differences among the institutions they are
considering.
Syverson explains: “Colleges are not commodities. They cannot simply
be compared to each other on a cost basis. We must help families understand
that a Lawrence education is a worthwhile investment that will pay dividends
over a lifetime, so they should not just view it as a cost.”
It is worth noting that college admission professionals are bound by a professional
code that prohibits them from making direct comparisons with other institutions;
they must present the best case for the value of their institution and let
families draw their own conclusions about what is right for them.
Value added
For Lawrence, a key piece of evidence supporting the case for such an investment
is the extraordinary amount of individualized learning the institution has
to offer. It is a costly proposition to provide Lawrence’s level of
personal education — through small class sizes, tutorials, independent-study
programs, and honors projects; more than half of the courses the university
teaches each year have the optimal student-to-faculty ratio of one-to-one.
Lawrence’s brand of education is a rarity among the nation’s colleges;
indeed, few colleges in the world offer the level of individualized learning
that Lawrence does. While this certainly offers Lawrence an important point
of distinction in an increasingly noisy marketplace, it more importantly can
provide greater probability for a highly satisfactory — if not transformational — educational
experience.
Given that Lawrence typically ranks among the top tier of the nation’s
colleges for its alumni giving rate (the percentage of alumni who donate financially
to their alma mater), there is reason to believe that the reward of a Lawrence
education is worth the investment.
Considering the evidence, perhaps Loren Pope’s assertion — that “there
is no greater educational bargain” than Lawrence University — is
right on the money.
Examples of Lawrence financial aid awards
Below is a collection of actual financial aid awards that Lawrence offered
to students who applied for financial aid — using the Free Application
for Federal Student Aid and the Lawrence University financial aid application — and
enrolled in fall 2006. (The awards are based on a total educational budget
of $37,680.)
Minnesota family of four with one student in college
Both parents work, earning a combined yearly income of $66,701 with $6,100
in savings, $41,100 in investments and home equity of $107,000. The student
earned $2,800 and has $6,000 in savings.
Merit Scholarship*: $5,000
Lawrence University Grant: $10,100
Subsidized Stafford Loan: $2,625
Federal Perkins Loan: $1,300
Federal Work Study: $2,225
Total Award: $21,250
Illinois family of five with two in college
Both parents work, earning a combined yearly income of $93,711 with $6,000
in savings and home equity of $249,000. The student had no earnings and has
$1,700 in savings.
Merit Scholarship*: $10,000
Lawrence University Grant: $7,000
Subsidized Stafford Loan: $2,625
Federal Perkins Loan: $2,400
Federal Work Study: $2,200
Total Award: $24,225
Wisconsin family of four with one in college
Both parents work, earning a combined yearly income of $57,870 with $3,603
in savings and home equity of $64,000. The student had earnings of $1,917
and has $6,600 in savings and investments.
Lawrence University Grant: $15,300
Wisconsin Tuition Grant: $2,900
Subsidized Stafford Loan: $2,625
Federal Perkins Loan: $4,000
Federal Work-Study: $2,200
Total Award: $27,075
California family of two with one in college
The student comes from a single-parent household with a yearly income of $39,181.
The parent has $800 in savings and home equity of $77,000. The student had
earnings of $2,700 and savings of $1,200. (An additional $600 was included
in the budget to offset travel costs.)
Lawrence University Grant: $21,300
Federal Pell Grant: $900
Federal Academic Competitiveness Grant: $750
Outside Merit Scholarship: $500
Subsidized Stafford Loan: $2,625
Federal Perkins Loan: $3,500
Federal Work Study: $2,300
Total Award: $31,875
Wisconsin family of three with one in college
Both parents work, earning a combined yearly income of $90,052 with $6,000
in savings and home equity of $30,000. The student had earnings of $5,200
and has $4,000 in savings.
Merit Scholarship*: $7,500
Lawrence University Grant: $4,600
Subsidized Stafford Loan: $2,625
Federal Work Study: $2,000
Total Award: $16,725
New Jersey family of four with one in college
Both parents work, earning a combined yearly income of $59,696 with no savings
and no home equity. The student has no earnings and no savings. An additional
$800 is included in the budget to offset travel costs.
Lawrence University Grant: $19,600
Subsidized Stafford Loan: $2,625
Federal Perkins Loan: $2,650
Federal Work Study: $2,200
Total Award: $27,075
For more information about most of the grants, loans, and scholarships listed in these examples, visit: www.lawrence.edu/admissions/finaid/
*Lawrence awards scholarships based upon the merits of students’ applications for admission and, in the case of music awards, auditions.