There’s a lot of chatter right now around the price of attending college online. Colleges are basically charging the same price for a significantly downgraded product. They’re hoping that their demand is relatively inelastic so they won’t see a drop in their yield and revenue. Most parents and students think this is W I L D (why would you ever pay full price if you’re getting, at best, 10% of a product?). There are a ton of class-action lawsuits surrounding this. Fun.
Then a few weeks ago, Williams announced that it will decrease its tuition (referred to as a comprehensive fee) by 15% for the 2020-2021 academic year. We know by now that colleges are business and that they rarely make decisions out of benevolence, so it’s entirely possible that Williams came to this decision as a way to preempt lawsuits in the future.
Let’s back up. To understand why the tuition cut might have occurred, let’s revisit March of this year when college campuses closed as Covid-19 numbers started to rise. Some students had less than a week to pack up their belongings and go home. And while the move to close college campuses was necessary, we do know that the transition to distance learning (as in, attending college online) was not entirely smooth. Most colleges lacked the framework to fully support students remotely. As we mentioned up to, in response to widespread campus shutdowns, hundreds of class action lawsuits were filed by students and parents who wanted a partial refund on the cost of tuition. And aside from tuition, there is the cost of room and board. Understandably, students who were sent home from college did not want to pay for housing and sought refunds in this area as well.
While room and board is cut and dry, tuition is a stickier issue that will be argued in a courtroom. The lawsuits claim that it’s unfair for students to pay the same amount of tuition money for online classes and an in-person education, and that the college experience has changed in major ways. As is expected, colleges are pushing back.
This brings us to today, a week after Williams announced their 15% drop in tuition. Colleges are now trying to figure the future. They need students on campus to make money. It’s also halfway through summer, and students and parents want to know the game plan. The question is: are students up for paying full tuition this year when it’s possible that distance learning will still be the norm? As colleges announce their plans for reopening in the fall, most say that the plans are subject to change. All of this is to say that decreased tuition, by Williams or any other school, is a strategy to keep students enrolled. We’re interested in seeing what other colleges do in response to this move by Williams, and we’ll update the blog accordingly.
We believe Williams’ 15% price cut is supposed to be a sign of good faith and that it is mostly performative. We know that college costs have outpaced inflation and that their margins are huge, so this 15% cut is a signal to parents that Williams hears them.
We’re very interested to see what other colleges do. But right now, each family needs to make the best decision for themselves. If you need help deciding whether to go engage in distance learning or whether you should take a year off, let us know.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the college process, contact us here. We’ll set you up with one of our writers.