America's Most Expensive Colleges
Columbia University, New York. Photo Courtesy: Hypathway.
Hypathway's Notes: For those of us who had a privilege to have a child in the United States,we had a chance to go to the delivery room to see the moment of our daughter or son coming to the new world. Sometimes the obstetrician even allowed the father cut the placental cord, the vascular structures that supply the nutrients from the mom to the fetus for approximate ten months during the gestation. I did not cut the placental cord myself but I witnessed the doctor discontinued it when our daughter was born here. At that moment, I said to myself that she is going to stop sucking the blood from her mom, and it will be my responsibility in the future 18 years to raise her to a legal adulthood. But I never imagined after our son went to college, the rate of blood sucking was much greater than his years in the middle or high school. In the reality of nowadays, we set up an account to pay college tuition and fees in the computer. One small mouse click in the computer will lead to tens of thousands of dollars evaporated from your bank account immediately.Reading this Forbes' survey on America's most expensive colleges that some of the schools could easily charge you total of over $200,000 for your child's four-year college education. The question for the prospective parents is that when you will be ready for the speed of the blood infusion.
America's Most Expensive Colleges
By Brian Wingfield, 10.04.10, Forbes.
College graduates today face a dismal job market and often carry with them thousands of dollars in student loan debt. And yet, the price tag for a year's worth of study at America's most expensive colleges is close to $60,000. Overall, tuition costs at private colleges are up 4.5% since last year.
For the 2010-2011 school year, Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y., charges undergraduates $57,556 for tuition, fees, room and board, making it the most expensive school in the country. That doesn't include books, personal expenses or the$1,780 the school charges for accident and sickness insurance, which students must buy unless they have a waiver. It also doesn't include financial aid, which about 65% of all Sarah Lawrence students receive.
| Rank | College Names | Annual Cost | Tuition and fees | Room and Board |
| 1 | Sarah Lawrence College | $57,556 | $43,556 | $14,000 |
| | Bronxville, N.Y. | | | |
| 2 | Columbia University | $54,385 | $43,815 | $10,572 |
| | New York, NY | | | |
| 3 | Bard College | $54,275 | $42,465 | $11,810 |
| | Annandale-on-Hudson, NY | | |
| 4 | Wesleyan University | $53,976 | $42,384 | $11,592 |
| | Middletomw, CT | | | |
| 5 | Vanderbilt University | $53,660 | $40,602 | $13,058 |
| | Nashville, TN | | | |
| 6 | University of Chicago | $53,604 | $41,091 | $12,513 |
| | Chicago, IL | | | |
| 7 | Harvey Mudd College | $53,588 | $40,390 | $13,198 |
| | Claremont, CA | | | |
| 8 | Trinity College | $53,380 | $42,420 | $10,960 |
| | Hartford, CT | | | |
| 9 | Georgetown University | $53,340 | $40,378 | $12,962 |
| | Washington, D.C. | | | |
| 10 | Bates College | $53,300 | | |
| | Lewiston, MA | | | |
Karen Lawrence, the college's president, defends the hefty price tag. "Unlike any other college, Sarah Lawrence requires individual, biweekly student-faculty meetings, as part of every seminar (approximately 94%of our classes)," she says via e-mail. "As a result, our students spend almost twice the time in one-on-one discussion with faculty as students at other prestigious liberal arts schools."
Low student-faculty ratios are a benefit of small, liberal arts colleges.And more than a few appear on our list of most expensive institutions of higher education. Among them: Bard College ($54,275), located in New York's Hudson Valley; Trinity College ($53,380) in Hartford, Conn.; and Maine's Bates College ($53,300).
But large,well-known universities also rank among the country's priciest schools.For example, at Columbia University--the most expensive Ivy League university--tuition and fees alone cost $43,815. Add another $10,572for room and board, not to mention the high cost of living in New York City. The University of Chicago estimates that a year's study will cost$56,640. That includes books and personal expenses, but not health insurance ($2,220), which students must purchase if they don't already have it.
In compiling our list of most expensive colleges and universities, we referenced data and surveys published by a variety of sources, including the Chronicle of Higher Education(which uses figures collected by the College Board) and Campus Grotto.We then compiled cost information published by the schools themselves for the 2010-2011 school year. Our list reflects what freshmen entering any of these traditional, four-year colleges and universities can expect to be billed for tuition, fees, room and board.
It does not include financial aid, and it's important to note that the sticker price of a college degree is often not what it actually costs to attend. In fact, many of America's most expensive schools are generous with financial aid. Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif.,costs about $53,600 to attend annually. But 80% of all students receive aid and 30% receive merit awards. Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., runs nearly $54,000 per year. The school, which this year has awarded aid packages ranging from $3,500 to $54,600 boasts on its Website that it "meets the full demonstrated need of those who enroll."Bard College even offers a program that allows eligible students to pay tuition at a rate comparable to a public university in their home states.
Despite the high cost of attendance at many private schools, the recession and slow economic recovery don't seem to have affected enrollment. According to Tony Pals, a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities,"several private institutions nationwide are reporting record enrollments this fall, as was the case last year."
That's due to a few factors, he says, including a high rate of graduating high school seniors and efforts by private universities to keep costs low.Institutional grant aid increased 6.8% this year, compared with 9% last year. Still, the NAICU reports that the average cost of tuition and fees at private colleges has risen 4.5% since last year. While that's the second-lowest increase in 37 years (the lowest was a 4.3% increase between the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years), it's still tough to swallow amid price deflation in almost every other sector of the economy.
Worth noting: In August Forbescompleted its third annual survey of America's Best Colleges, whichrates schools based on quality of education, student experience andprofessional success. Of those that made the top 25, only four alsoappear on our list of most expensive schools: Columbia, Wesleyan,University of Chicago and Harvey Mudd.
Posted 星期二, 10/19/2010 - 17:36 by Fishville at www.tongjiyiren.com.(hypathway@hotmail.com)
