Truth: Maybe and maybe not. Don’t cut out a few thousand colleges and limit yourself to a fraction of the options before the facts are in!
Seth Allen, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at
Grinnell College, weighs in with the following
thoughts for your consideration:
* Public and private colleges both calculate your need-based financial aid package using your FAFSA application (which determines your “Expected Family Contribution"). Allen points out that if your family is expected to contribute $15,000, for example, then that amount would be the same for both a public and private college.
* Private colleges and public colleges operate using different types of funding. Allen advises students to look at the type of financial aid they are offered, not just the dollar amount. If a public university is facing tight times, then students may have to take out more loans. As you are comparing the cost of attending colleges, you need to focus on how much student loan debt you will have beyond graduation. A private college may have additional gift or merit-based aid available and you could graduate with less debt than at a state university.
* State universities are vulnerable to funding cuts, especially in the current economic crisis. Allen claims that state universities may have to reduce merit scholarship awards and lay off faculty members, which would lead to larger classes and fewer program offerings. In times of recession, private colleges may have more resources to devote to students.
* Students generally graduate in less time (four years) at private colleges than at public universities. Allen believes that the resource cuts at public universities may further delay a
student's ability to graduate in four years, which would lead to additional costs for extra semesters or years in college.
* Public and private colleges all have different sticker prices but students need to consider the net costs of attending these colleges (including financial aid packages, amount of student loans, estimated years spent to get a degree, and differences in costs of living) before deciding on the best value.
My advice: Take an open-minded approach as you search for colleges that may be right for you. You owe it to yourself to make an informed choice after you have reviewed what your top college selections have to offer you in terms of quality of education, campus environment, activities and extracurricular offerings, and financial commitment. You may be a great candidate for your local state university or choose to venture out of state for a great public university elsewhere, but don’t limit your college future because of stereotypes about the price of going private.