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Given that most (yes, most) students at the University of Chicago receive financial aid, what you're seeing is a sticker price. The school is using the high sti

Given that most (yes, most) students at the University of Chicago receive financial aid, what you're seeing is a sticker price. The school is using the high sticker price + financial aid to perform very efficient price discrimination[0], so they can get a lot of money from people who can pay. It is effectively a sliding scale fee [1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliding_scale_fees https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliding_scale_fees

secabeen 7y ago
Yes, this. The nameplate tuition is paid by a vanishingly small percentage of students. What I think each school should do is publish data showing what the median tuition paid is, and the quartiles. That would help a lot to fight this perception that "tuition is going up every year!"
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
popularwarfare 7y ago
In theory. Do you have evidence that is what is actually happening?
- eindiran 7y ago
  If your request for evidence is about the claim that most Uchicago students receive aid: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/financial-aid-budget-forecast-grow-5-percent-uchicago-implements-new-aid-initiatives https://news.uchicago.edu/story/financial-aid-budget-forecas... If its about the claim that this is an example of price discrimination: that is an opinion I formed while I was at the University and spoke with some folks in the economics department about it. There is a class offered in econ about the economics of education, and that certainly hit the point home that financial aid is a type of price discrimination. I couldn't have paid for the tuition in full, so I myself received significant financial aid and supplemented with some student loans, so I got to see a bit of it first hand.
  - skinnymuch 7y ago
    They are mixing financial support/debt and grants it seems in the writing. Getting loans isn’t the same as getting money you don’t have to pay back.
jjeaff 7y ago
That is part of it, but the term "financial aid" is usually trotted around to make people think that the less wealthy are getting "aid" but in reality, the majority of that "aid" is in the form of non-dischargeable student loans. I don't consider a loan "aid". Especially since that loan has interest.

secabeen 7y ago

Yes, this. The nameplate tuition is paid by a vanishingly small percentage of students. What I think each school should do is publish data showing what the median tuition paid is, and the quartiles. That would help a lot to fight this perception that "tuition is going up every year!"

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

popularwarfare 7y ago

In theory. Do you have evidence that is what is actually happening?

eindiran 7y ago
If your request for evidence is about the claim that most Uchicago students receive aid: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/financial-aid-budget-forecast-grow-5-percent-uchicago-implements-new-aid-initiatives https://news.uchicago.edu/story/financial-aid-budget-forecas... If its about the claim that this is an example of price discrimination: that is an opinion I formed while I was at the University and spoke with some folks in the economics department about it. There is a class offered in econ about the economics of education, and that certainly hit the point home that financial aid is a type of price discrimination. I couldn't have paid for the tuition in full, so I myself received significant financial aid and supplemented with some student loans, so I got to see a bit of it first hand.
- skinnymuch 7y ago
  They are mixing financial support/debt and grants it seems in the writing. Getting loans isn’t the same as getting money you don’t have to pay back.

jjeaff 7y ago

That is part of it, but the term "financial aid" is usually trotted around to make people think that the less wealthy are getting "aid" but in reality, the majority of that "aid" is in the form of non-dischargeable student loans. I don't consider a loan "aid". Especially since that loan has interest.