Should you stay close to home for college?

Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Nov 27 2009 | 1 Comment

Is it time for college students to be calling home?

When you’re going to college should you stay close to home or go away to a private school with ridiculous tuition, room and board?

Of course, I’m biased.

I am a product of public college education and think that I came out as well as another peer of mine who is Vanderbilt educated (even though I paid THOUSANDS less than she did overall).

Since the recession, many new students are opting to stay in their home states to attend college rather that go to other states to get their bachelor’s or master’s degrees.

Public universities are hurting for money. My business school’s professors are encouraged to not print syllabus among other necessary documents.

Over the past a small amount of years, the financial organization of public universities has changed radically. States no longer fund the accounts for the majority of a school’s budget. A school is lucky if the state supports 20% of a college’s overall budget. For example, William and Mary’s college for the 08-09 school year was only funded 18% by taxpayer dollars. In the 1970’s, taxpayers funded 43% of the school’s budget. “At this point, we’re a privately supported university that also gets some meaningful state aid,” says W. Taylor Reveley III, president of William & Mary.

To make up the divergence, public universities have got to rely on tuition and charges to pay for the majority of the budgetary requirements; because of this, many state schools work hard to be a magnet for out of state students, who will pay a premium, sometimes more than three times as much as residents, to attend.

“Given the way that states are cutting back on funds, to replace an in-state student with an out-of-state student, particularly if you can capture some of that revenue for your own purposes, is a good thing financially for schools,” says John Maguire, chairman and founder of Maguire Associates, a research-based consulting firm specializing in educational institutions.

So I suppose sometimes it comes down to whether you want to go in state or out of state and the cost you may incur.

If you live in Alabama, congratulations, you can go to Auburn. If you live in Mississippi you get to go to … Ole Miss.

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Cuts from the public school system that everyone will notice

Tags: private school, recession, taxpayer dollars