Our good friend Paul Lloyd Hemphill, a private consultant at Video College Coach, has sent us this letter from one of his clients — it’s a must-read about that shows that parents might actually be in the driver’s seat in the college admissions game these days.
We have removed any last names and addresses from the letter. The rest is left in.
Robert NAME
Alexander NAME
Massachusetts, USA
April 12, 2009
Admissions Person
Northeastern University
Boston, MA 02115
Dear Admissions Person:
First, let me open by saying thank you on behalf of Alex for his acceptance to Northeastern University - clearly an outstanding university. Next, I wanted to let you know that he will not be attending Northeastern, having chosen to attend the University of Connecticut instead. The main reason for his decision is one of economics - approximately $20K per year total cost at UCONN vs. $47K per year total cost at Northeastern.
Over the past few years it has become increasingly clear that private universities such as Northeastern are pricing the middle class out of attending their schools. With the rising cost of tuition and room and board far outstripping increases in cost of living you are basically closing the doors to all but the wealthy, who have no problem paying the total cost of attending college no matter what that cost is, or the underprivileged students who have achieved academically, yet have no way to pay for a college education. The main question is could we afford to pay for Alex to attend Northeastern having been offered very little to no financial aid? The answer is yes IF we chose to take thousands of dollars in loans, tap into our retirement funds and use the equity that we’ve built in our home. All completely unreasonable expectations by universities such as yours. The next question: Is an undergraduate degree from Northeastern worth (4 X $27K) $108K more than an undergraduate degree from UCONN? The answer clearly is absolutely not. In fact, the general population is now beginning to see more clearly that where the undergrad degree is earned, provided that it’s from an accredited institution, is not really as critical as institutions of higher learning want them to believe. Also, the major marketing effort (mailings, calls) that Northeastern has engaged in with accepted students leads me to believe that your admissions rate may be lower than you expected this academic year.
So, with little financial aid from Northeastern to bring your costs in line with what Alex has been offered by UCONN, and based on his decision that your costs are far too high, he has decided to accept admission to UCONN majoring in Physiology and Neurobiology for the 2009-2010 academic year.
Sincerely,
Robert NAME
This post has 16 comments
April 13th, 2009
This letter frustrates me so much! While I actually agree with the actual discussion (tuition rates at private universities are out of reach to so many people), there are two main issues I personally have with it:
First, why is the PARENT writing this letter and telling the admissions official their child is not attending? Shouldn’t this be something the student writes and does? If the parents are the ones driving the whole admissions process, I’m worried about whether this student will be able to cut it at University without someone holding his/her hand!
Second, the student and the parents were aware of the cost of Northeastern before they applied, and to then, at the end of the process, become frustrated at the fact that it is not affordable to them is somewhat ridiculous.
The whole helicopter parent tone is what bothers me most about it though, grrr.
April 13th, 2009
Ummm. I’m not sure why this parent’s angst woudl be offensive. I think it is more about the parent paying the tuition bill than it is a helicopter parent. I mean, we can scoff at the parent driving the admission process but if they are the ones who must ultimate foot the bill I don’t see how that reflects on the student being ‘handheld’. Not least, you talk about them not having informed themselves about tuition costs previously, but you know as well as I do that the award letter that is done with the admission letter or shortly thereafter is what really spells out the financial conditions. Institutions are different in the way they calculate awards/write offs. So as a prospective student, you’ve got to put your eggs in more than one basket and see what comes up.
April 13th, 2009
I think this letter from the parent was completely justified. If years of dealing with financial aid have taught me anything, it’s the the “sticker price” of a college doesn’t matter. Sure, you might know that there’s a $47K per year total cost at Northeastern, but you won’t know how much of that you’ll be asked to pay until after you apply. Sticker price is largely irrelevant - it’s the financial aid package offered that counts.
This parent is admonishing the school for not offering a suitable financial aid package. It’s hard to tell whether or not his son should have been offered a bigger package, not knowing what sort of an application the student was (athletic? well-rounded? good grades? great grades?). But I do think the letter should have come from the parent - let’s face it, parents are considered by the colleges to be the main decision-makers when it comes to cost of attendance issues.
April 13th, 2009
Great comments from everyone. Note that we sent this to Northeastern’s Twitter account and are awaiting a response from there.
I’ll withhold comments of my own ’til we hear back from them.
April 13th, 2009
Wassan - as the parent that wrote the above letter, I was responding to direct correspodence to the ‘Parents of Alex’ - a hard-sell marketing efort to not only the admitted student, but also the parents. My wife and I are hardly ‘helicopter’ parents - in fact ‘Alex’ made the decisions and applied to his colleges of choice, mostly on his own, knowing how much he wanted to spend on his education. His grades and SAT scores are stellar, so we expected more from a university like Northeastern than we were offered in the way of financial/merit aid. Because we’ve worked hard and are in an income bracket that reflects our hard work, universities like Northeastern expect that we will fund the majority of our children’s education. Not so, especially when the price of tuition is so ridiculously high. I, and many other parents, refuse to go into major debt to fund our children’s education especially when there are other very good schools that are options for our kids. Of course we are going to help ‘Alex’ with his education - BUT are we going to go into major debt to do it? NO, as it’s not neccessary. Private schools like Northeastern are beginning to see this trend. The days of uncontrolled, sky-high tuition are coming to an end OR the schools will go out of business. And who said you can’t negotiate with these schools over tuition or appeal for more financial aid? They are after all a business and in business everything is negotiable!!
April 14th, 2009
No problem here with the parent’s letter.
Northeastern’s been on an aggressive and successfult (to date) campaign for several years to lift its academic profile and brand image… but the popping of the financial bubble applies to higher education as well as other sectors… if there are any immune re enrollment yields, it will be a very, very few at the top of the reputation pinnacle.
In this case, it certainly is hard to say (absent a program of very special interest) that a degree from Northeastern University will have any more weight as life unfolds than a degree from University of Connecticut. Either will do the holder fine, one at much less cost. For many people through the land this year, the decision will be clear.
April 14th, 2009
This is not unique nor is it new, but is the first time I’ve seen it published word-for-word from a parent.
To me, this IS the tipping point - the point where parents and students not just question the cost, but make different choices because of it.
Colleges that notice this tipping point, will hopefully rethink their pricing strategy. Colleges that ignore it, do so at their own risk.
April 14th, 2009
The solution to this problem is to engage 21st century marketing techniques and apply them to education. Andrew Jackson University is using a series of network marketing partners that have allowed the University to create the Sponsored Tuition program. Applicants to the University enroll through one of the partner sites and get access to a zero tuition plan. There is mandatory fee structure, but without tuition, the total cost per semester has been driven below $500 - and without any government subsidies.
Andrew Jackson University maintains institutional accreditation through the Distance Education and Training Council. (www.detc.org) The DETC is the only accrediting association approved by the US Department of Education solely for the purpose of accrediting distance institutions. AJU is a Title IV eligible school, but is not participating, which also eliminates another significant cost factor.
For more information go to http://www.sponsoredtuition.com
April 16th, 2009
Thanks must go to Bob for writing the letter in the first place. Too many would have just shredded the acceptance letter without comment.
Could this economy force a Tipping Point? Sure, difficult times can force difficult decisions. But one silver lining may be that having identified the situation, some universities may be able to proactively address it to decrease the disparity in price until it is not the main decision driver.
April 26th, 2009
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October 23rd, 2009
I attend NEU, and I could not agree more with that statement!!
Plus, if the student plans on going for a Graduate degree, it doesn’t matter where you went for undegrad. Additionally, it doesn’t matter where the student went for their pre-req’s, i.e. a community college before they choose to transfer to a four-year institution. The final degree is what matters…
At NEU, once your enrolled, there’s an elusiveness and a lack of student-centeredness, so I bet NEU is feeling the pinch with lack of enrollment and I also bet that eventually they are going to be forced to lower tuition.
Thank you for sharing this letter.
RE:
“Also, the major marketing effort (mailings, calls) that Northeastern has engaged in with accepted students leads me to believe that your admissions rate may be lower than you expected this academic year.”
October 23rd, 2009
Wassan:
Your last statement is incorrect. I applied to NEU knowing full well that the tuition was $45K, but the University provided me scholarships because of my family income. In the end, the yearly tution was $15K, but with outside scholarships, Pell Grants, etc., it knocked it down further. Now, the yearly tuition is $3,800.
As for the child responding as to why they are rejecting the school, the child isn’t paying, so essentially since the parents are paying for tutition, it’s their obligation to respond.
But I do share your frustration in “helicopter” parenting, but I doubt that this was anything but helicoptering the child since it focused on tuition and lack of scholarhsip aid. By the way, Yale and Stanford are lowering their tuition for households that make under $100K because they realize that bright students are avoiding their universities due to tuition. NEU needs to follow suit and lower tuition, too, but I bet that they eventually will when students don’t apply.
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