Ivy League prices are pushing US$90,000 a year

YALE: up 4 per cent. Dartmouth and Brown: up 5 per cent.

US college costs just keep climbing. And the increase is pushing the annual price for the upcoming academic year at Ivy League schools towards yet another hold-on-to-your-mortarboard mark: US$90,000.

Full costs at elite private colleges already stretch well into the US$80,000s, or upward of US$320,000 for four years. At places like Brown University, the cost of attendance (tuition, room, board and fees) is almost US$85,000, well above what the typical US household earns. Financial aid, in the form of grants, scholarships, loans and work-study programmes, closes the gap for many.

But as the high-school class of 2023 anxiously awaits admissions decisions in the coming weeks, even those wealthy enough to pay full freight are contending with sticker shock. Tuition has been rising so briskly for so long that the value proposition of college can start getting murky, said Beth Akers, an economist who focuses on higher education.

“At some point, that math stops working out,” said Akers, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank. “We get to a place where these degrees are just no longer worth it.”

Even at today’s high and rising prices, a bachelor’s degree tends to pay off in earnings power — though that can vary widely depending on the major. And at the most elite US schools, there’s no sign of a slowdown in demand for coveted spots.

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In the Ivy League, a collection of eight highly selective schools in the northeastern US, prices have been running hot for years. Yale University’s cost of tuition, room and board cracked US$50,000 in 2011, US$60,000 in 2015 and US$70,000 in 2019. Last academic year, Yale broke US$80,000. The University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, Columbia University and Brown University also entered the US$80,000 bracket in 2022.

Now, like everyone, universities are paying more for just about everything amid persistent inflation. The cost of running a college jumped 5.2 per cent in fiscal 2022, the most since 2001, according to asset manager Commonfund.

To be sure, at most top institutions, at least 50 per cent of students receive some sort of financial aid. For lower and middle-income students, with an average household income below US$125,000, the price to attend highly selective universities has actually gone down, said Wellesley economist Phillip Levine.

Here’s a list of the cost of attendance at Ivy League schools and other selective institutions, including tuition, room, board and fees.

Cost of Attendance: US$84,828 (tuition, room, board and fees.)

Students who receive aid: 45 per cent (Brown covers full tuition for families earning US$125,000 or less with typical assets and all expenses for families making less than US$60,000 a year.)

(2023-2024)

Cost of Attendance: US$84,568 (tuition, room, board and fees.)

Students who receive aid: 48 per cent (Families with a total income of less than US$60,000 and total assets less than US$100,000 will have no parent contribution and no loans.)

(2023-2024)

Cost of Attendance: US$84,570 (tuition, room, board and fees.)

Students who receive aid: 44 per cent (students whose families make US$75,000 or less with typical assets will now receive financial aid packages that cover tuition, fees, housing and dining.)

(2023-2024)

Cost of Attendance: US$84,300 (tuition, room, board and fees.)

Students who receive aid: 47 per cent (Dartmouth undergraduates from families with an annual income of US$125,000 or less who possess typical assets are offered need-based aid without a required loan component.)

(2023-2024)

Cost of Attendance: US$83,880 (tuition, room and board.)

Students who receive aid: 53 per cent (Parents earning less than US$75,000 annually with typical assets receive financial aid to cover the full cost of tuition, housing, meal plan, travel costs and hospitalisation insurance.)

(2023-2024)

Cost of Attendance: US$83,263 (tuition, room, board required fees.)

Students who receive aid: 50 per cent (students from households with a total income of US$60,000 or less have no expected parent contribution.)

(2023-2024)

Cost of Attendance: US$82,758 (tuition, fees, room and board.)

Students who receive aid: 51 per cent (Caltech offers a no-loan financial aid package to families making US$90,000 or less.)

(2023-2024)

Cost of Attendance: US$82,406 (tuition, room and board and mandatory health fee.)

Students who receive aid: More than two-thirds (Families earning up to US$100,000 with typical assets receive scholarships to cover tuition, room and board.)

(2023-2024)

Cost of Attendance: US$81,680 (tuition, room, board and fees.)

Students who receive aid: 50 per cent (students from families with annual incomes less than US$150,000 with typical assets are able to attend Columbia tuition free.)

(2022-2023)

Cost of Attendance: US$79,546 (tuition, room, board and fees.)

Students who receive aid: 58 per cent (For families with typical assets and incomes under US$140,000, MIT tuition is free.)

(2023-2024)

Cost of Attendance: US$76,763 (tuition, room, board and fees.)

Students who receive aid: 55 per cent (Families with an annual income of US$75,000 or less do not pay anything towards the cost of a Harvard College education.)

(2022-2023)

Cost of Attendance: US$76,040 (tuition, room and board).

Students who receive aid: 62 per cent (For families earning up to US$100,000 with typical assets, the financial aid grant typically covers the full cost of tuition, room, board and personal expenses starting in the fall of 2023.)

(2022-2023)

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