By now, many people shopping for college get the message that not everyone pays full price. And what kind of students get the discount?
One way to answer these questions (and many others about the faculty-wide experience) is to read the so-called Common Data Set. The CDS is a compilation of information on admissions, demographics, financial aid, academics and campus life. The school compiles it each year and sends it to US News & World Report, Peterson’s, and other agencies that classify or rank colleges and universities.
Most institutions post their CDS somewhere on their website. But earlier this week, at least a dozen did not. Over the past five days, when I asked why, many universities, including Boston College and the University of Chicago, said they were planning to release CDS after all. Others, like Emerson College, have insisted on keeping it to themselves. Albright College and High Point College did not answer my question at all.
For those of you familiar with CDS, it might be because he had a bit of a part in a recent drama at Columbia University. A Columbia University professor called the school over questionable data that resulted in an unjustifiably higher U.S. News ranking, the school’s metrics including issuing its own CDS. I was.
However, if you are hearing about CDS for the first time, now is a good time to learn more. This is a wealth of information for college shoppers, regardless of how much they can or are willing to pay.
CDS is the product of an uneasy relationship between US News’ college rankers and overburdened rankers. Schools can’t afford to spend months dealing with various data requests from magazines, Peterson’s, college boards, and more. Save effort by filling out one giant form. Moreover, it is in everyone’s interest to have a standard definition of the information under investigation.
Most schools post PDFs that aren’t very readable, but for college shoppers, the CDS is a great read. If your child doesn’t have joinery, the form will tell you the percentage of students who are in fraternities and sororities.
It also features instructor demographics. Faculty members who are members of minority groups may be rare in some schools, and the CDS details figures for specific institutions.
In terms of financial assistance, a quick read of the CDS can give families hope and fear in equal measure. Universities’ “cost of attendance” web pages often list very high fees, but many students at the school do not pay them.
While many are eligible for need-based financial assistance, most schools cannot afford to meet all the needs of every family. Section H2 of the CDS shows how well schools, on average, can meet their needs. Families often end up filling the gap with student or parent loans.
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Parents who have enrolled their children but find the school is meeting their needs below average can challenge financial aid offers. You can also have a conversation with a financial aid officer before the application season begins if your school’s average gap seems particularly haunting. Ask them if they can afford the place in the end.
Then there are high-income households. For example, many people whose household income is her $300,000 are not eligible for need help. Still, if they’ve been paying off their own student loans for decades, chances are they don’t have much college savings for their offspring.
This is where section H2A comes into play. The technical explanation for what the school is revealing here is “unnecessary institutional scholarships or grants.” Here is my translation: “The number of discounts we issue to people who are able but unwilling to pay, at least according to our financial aid calculations, are:
This is the so-called merit aid that so many schools offer today. In many schools, almost everyone gets something. The CDS lists the average amount of merit aid that people without financial need will end up getting.
The next step is to use the form to find out how many people need help and how many don’t need benefits. Add them up and subtract the total from the total number of students to find out how many or how few are paying full price.
Maybe you don’t want to be among the few who pay retail. There is a nature.
The school representatives I spoke to this week did not say this themselves.In fact, the opposite may be true, at least according to their consultants.
EAB Principal Nathan Mueller, who helps universities determine which discounts to recruit and retain students and offer, said: “We would rather have them know that.”
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Mueller’s colleague Madeleine Rhyneer expressed his support for listing the CDS and acknowledged the mood in the market.
“Generation Z and their parents have much less confidence and trust in institutions, and universities unfortunately fall into that category,” she said. It sends a sincere message to the market that they want to be open about how they support people financially.”
So hats off to the schools I contacted this week. Ohio Wesleyan University is working to fill in her blank CDS web page, which currently contains only a few Latin words. A new senior at LaSalle University his leader “expects” to start issuing CDS “in the future.” Babson College sent similar words.
In a statement, the University of Chicago said it had “recently” reviewed its approach and planned to open the CDS “soon.” Boston College posted her CDS on her web page and thanked her for drawing attention to this issue. Bard and Marist Colleges also posted the form soon, and Stevens Institute of Technology expects him to do so in 2023.
Emerson could not be brought in, but it was written that they would “certainly review current practices.”
Bentley University was another holdout earlier in the week, and the vice president of institutional research said in an email that the school “has been useless for families.”
My experience is just the opposite. When I sit the family down with his CDS and he takes two minutes to explain things, eyes pop out of their heads as they finally figure out who pays for what and under what circumstances. is often seen. By the end of the week, Bentley had changed her mind and gone public.
CDS is not a panacea. US News has published inaccurate data for years. Well-intentioned errors do occur.
Meanwhile, college counselors and various types of emerging services are amassing their own collections of price data. The College Transitions Dataverse sites Big J Educational Consulting, Road2College, TuitionFit, MeritMore, and Moore College Data are worth a look.
Collecting and categorizing college pricing and other data isn’t too difficult and doesn’t require a lot of parsing by many entities, but at the end of the day, this is personal finance in America. There are parties involved, a lot of opacity, and big emotions can well get in the way of common sense.
Lamentation aside, it is certainly worth some effort to have a clear understanding of what price the school might be offering you if admitted, and why, before you apply. , helps to understand it.
If you come across a school that hasn’t posted or has an older one online, it’s well within common courtesy to ask the institution to hand over the latest version. And while you’re at it, ask that the data be posted where we can all find it and benefit from it.