Can tuition-free colleges survive?
April 10, 2010 by Jacob HawleyPosted in: Admissions & Financial Aid, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
Financial aid needs are at an all-time high while endowments are in the gutter. So how are these schools giving all their students a free ride?
Free-tuition schools are a rarity, but a handful of military, engineering or occupational colleges are making a go of it, taking advantage of the high demand for graduates with those degrees. Nine schools are currently funding students’ education, says the Princeton Review in its “Best Value Colleges” report.
But hard hits to university endowments (18.7% on average) are causing some schools to scale back their offerings. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, MA will switch to half-tuition scholarships starting in the fall, with the hope of restoring full scholarships when financial conditions improve.
Other schools offer free tuition, but earn returns through means like fees, room and board, textbook costs, or exchange of service. The U.S. Military Academy of West Point, NY requires five years of active service from its graduates.
At the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, MO students work on-campus 15 hours a week, along with two 40-hour workweeks, performing landscaping, cafeteria or production tasks.
How has your college tried to offset costs for students? Tell us in the comments section below.
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Tags: Best Value Colleges, College of the Ozarks, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, tuition free colleges, U.S. Military Academy of West Point
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April 16th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Tulsa CC has a program for free tuition for recent graduates of Tulsa County high schools in a program called “Tulsa Achivies.” It has no relation to scholarship, allowing students to receive it with a 1.7 GPA or above. It is also totally unrelated to need, so students with family incomes over a half million dollars can get the same amount as those with incomes less than $40,000. How we can afford to give away $5 million a year becomes a severe problem since we do not have money for professional travel, professional conferences etc., and no money for employee raises and promotions for quite some time. As state income dwindles, this presents a burden on taxpayers who fund the whole program that allows only a few of the TCC students any Tulsa Achieves money.