College must account for itself
On a rainy morning four days before April 15, Brian Nickerson, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Iona College in New Rochelle, said tax season has a direct bearing on Iona and on colleges across America.
Add the online revolution and a must-have embrace of job-oriented learning to the college experience and for students today it”™s new breed of sheepskin whose watchword is “value.”
“A lot of decisions come down to dollars and cents,” Nickerson said. “This is where the rubber meets the road. Tax season is the high-water mark for decisions; it represents an inflection point for decision-making. Our goal is to provide very clear, understandable information in a confusing landscape of financial aid.”
A direct upshot of Iona”™s work is that more than 90 percent of its students receive financial aid. Scholarships and aid reached $41 million this year, up $2.4 million. Iona”™s tuition, fees, room and board for a full-time undergraduate will be $45,945 ($30,670 for tuition) for 2013-14, a 3.7 percent increase over 2012-13 and the smallest increase in a decade.
“Higher education has a lot of challenges to demonstrate it has both value and long-term value,” Nickerson said. “We have to talk much more now about the vocational aspects of degrees. Parents are asking about internships; they want to see two or three internships to prepare their children to be job-ready.”
Nickerson said the loss of home value is a universal concern in higher education. “We are going to need economic stability for a long time for consumers to feel more secure,” he said. “Without that, there is a different condition of being more nervous, and rightfully so. The college budget committee has met multiple times and many models were presented. In September, the faculty, staff, administration and president were given a charge by the committee to address affordability.”
New for those who went to college years ago ”“ and then paid it little heed until their children came of age ”“ is the “net price calculator,” which all colleges by law must carry on their websites. “You can get information on exact awards,” said Nickerson. “It provides a much truer indicator of costs than you had in the past.”
The aid process at Iona begins early. Prospective students receive aid and tuition information and admitted students meet with financial aid counselors in April and March, before they have sat in a class or bought a book.
Nickerson is a 1989 Iona College graduate ”“ and now a lawyer and Ph.D., as well ”“ who worked at the family business as an undergraduate. He said many students hold jobs, including now the expanded opportunity through a federal honors program to pay undergraduates working on research for Iona professors.
Iona”™s operating budget for the 2013-14 year is $136 million, $1 million more than this year.
The just-passed state budget held steady its support for the SUNY system at the 2012-13 level of $969 million. But cost-of-business expenses accrued by the SUNY schools will be met by a tuition increase of $300 per semester on student shoulders.
The costs for four-year SUNYs (in-state) for 2013-14: $5,870 tuition ($14,820 out of state); fees $1,340; room-board $11,060, plus sundries for a total $21,740
Two-year SUNYs (in-state) for 2013-14: $3,840 tuition; fees $520; room-board $9,200, plus sundries for a total $17,280. But the final state budget included an increase in aid for community college students that raises the state contribution to the typical student”™s bill by $150 to $2,422.
Berkeley College in White Plains ”“ one of seven Berkeley campuses in New York and New Jersey ”“ recently marked 15 years of online education and interest in the arena is strong.
Since 2003, when the program shifted to accredited courses, online enrollment has shot from 49 to 1,086. Berkeley”™s White Plains campus as of the Fall 2012 quarter was educating about 600 students.
“Berkeley has a strong online program,” said Ilene Greenfield, director of media relations for New Jersey-based Berkeley. “These are the same programs and the same degrees. Most, but not all, of our courses are offered online.” Berkeley College Online ”“ essentially another campus ”“ has its own dean, Carol Smith.
Berkeley operates on a quarterly system, with three quarters equaling two complete semesters. The quarterly cost for September 2012 was $7,100 and will be $7,200 in September 2013. The cost is the same for online and standard courses, with online students accruing savings in commuting and time management.
“The online is growing so much,” Greenfield said. “It might be a trend. It appeals to many adult students who have other responsibilities: jobs, taking care of children or taking care of elderly parents.” The top three Berkeley College Online majors are management, justice studies and health services management.
Berkeley Online students have complete library access as well as one-on-one teacher meetings.
At Marist in Poughkeepsie, this year”™s tuition for its 4,536 undergraduates was $29,500, a 4.2 percent rise from 2010-11, plus common fees of $500 and a typical room-board package costing $8,100, according to chief public affairs officer Greg Cannon. Marist”™s tuition and fees for 2013-14 will be determined the first week in May when its governing board meets. Cannon said about 77 percent of Marist students receive institutional aid from Marist and, adding state and federal money, fully 86 percent receive aid in some form.
As with Iona, staffing is the largest expense at Marist, including attracting and keeping top professors, according to Cannon.
Also like Iona, Marist has gotten creative to control medical costs. Iona uses a nonprofit to run its health plan and Marist is self-insured. “We want our health package to be attractive,” Cannon said. “But because we are involved in its day-to-day management, we keep cost increases relatively manageable.”
As for the bills, Cannon said, “Certainly there is a heightened awareness of the cost and of the competitive nature of jobs.” He said “for several years” the most popular classes have been communication, business, computer science and technology.
“Students are more practical and career-oriented today,” Cannon said. “The world is changing. Students need to think about post-college as soon as they arrive.”
Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry announced a zero percent increase in tuition for the 2013-2014 academic year, “under $17,000,” while noting freshman applications are up 160 percent.
“We have made the very deliberate decision to enforce a zero percent tuition rate for next year,” said Deirdre Whitman, Mercy”™s vice president for enrollment management. “Mercy College students and their families can plan for the future and know what to expect when they choose Mercy: award-winning faculty who know students by name, individualized student support through our nationally recognized PACT mentoring program, preparation for career success and no unforeseen debt.”
Mercy said its financial aid packages ”“ more than $120 million per year ”“ would not be affected by the tuition freeze. It offers 90 degree programs in five schools: business, education, health and natural sciences, social and behavioral sciences, and liberal arts.
“We want students to understand the financial aid process and we package the maximum amount of eligible aid for each student,” Whitman said. “Mercy College has one of the lowest private tuition rates in the country and the lowest in New York state.”