Imagine this situation: a high school senior opens a package in the mail, and the next thing you know he or she is dancing around the room — they’ve just been accepted at Johns Hopkins University, their dream school since they were a kid. However, the next day, mom and dad sit down with them and explain to them that the cost of Hopkins is simply too much for their family to afford. The student’s dreams are now forever crushed.
Sadly, this situation is the reality for many students accepted into Hopkins. For those that attend, the financial cost can at times be extremely burdensome as well for them and their families. How can Hopkins ensure that the dreams of the ambitious to attend a school like Hopkins are not destroyed simply because of one’s financial status?
Everyone knows that tuition costs have been soaring in the past two decades. Would the student be facing the same situation if they were accepted into Harvard, Columbia, Cornell or George Washington University? According to Campus Grotto, during the 2009-2010 academic year Hopkins ranked as the 6th most expensive college or university in the nation, including liberal arts colleges, at an average estimated cost of $51,190 for that year. If one includes just universities, Hopkins ranks as the 3rd most expensive university in the country, behind New York University, at $51,991, and George Washington University, at $51,730. In terms of just tuition, Hopkins ranked as the tenth most expensive non-liberal arts school in the nation at $39,150, just behind Columbia University.
The total cost of attendance and tuition would be irrelevant if Hopkins had a policy, say, like Harvard’s. Not including financial aid, Harvard is the nation’s 112th most expensive college overall and 139th in terms of tuition. At Harvard, families with incomes less than $60,000 per year do not have to pay a parental contribution. Families with incomes of up to $180,000 have an average expected parental contribution of only 10% of income or less. Basically, this policy ensures that people will not be unjustly financially burdened by attending Harvard. The lower and middle class will be given the opportunity and the wealthy would not be put through unreasonable financial hardship. Over 70% of Harvard students receive financial aid, and Harvard meets 100% of demonstrated need. Schools like MIT, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, and many others follow similar policies.
At Hopkins however, it’s very different. According to Hopkins, only 45% of undergraduates receive any form of financial aid, while the financial aid itself still leaves a significant portion of the cost to be paid by hard-working struggling families, for Hopkins also doesn’t promise to meet 100% of demonstrated need. Harvard’s philosophy is that if you are admitted to the school you should not be put through financial hardship to or deterred for financial reasons from attending. In regards to Hopkins however, many of us have indeed heard stories of those students who were accepted to Hopkins but either couldn’t attend, had to be put through extreme financial difficulty or eventually had to transfer simply because of the cost.
Let us look at another innovative policy by a similarly expensive school. By raw numbers, GWU is more expensive. Clear cut right? No, not really. When students enroll at GWU (which by the way, also $7,000 more per year per student on aid than JHU, according to College Board), there is a price cap placed on their tuitions for 10 consecutive semesters as long as the student remains continuously enrolled and remains under 17 credits. If a GWU sophomore suddenly finds that tuition was, theoretically, raised 5% for the new incoming class, he would find little reason to fret because it does not apply to him. A student who entered GWU in Fall 2005 would pay $36,370 a year for tuition throughout their undergraduate career, while one entering in Fall 2009 would pay $41,610 a year. To bring it closer to home, members of the class of 2011 entered Hopkins paying $35,900 a year during the 2007-2008 academic year. Tuition increased by 3.9%, or $1,530, from the 2009-2010 school year to the 2010-2011 school year to a total of $40,680. The monetary benefits and savings of such a policy speak for themselves.
How can Hopkins deal with this dilemma? There are multiple ways, from the financial policies used by other schools to simply lowering tuition increases, increasing financial aid budgets, etc. The options are endless, and a school as creative as Hopkins should be able to design a policy that is both affordable and just.
What is clear from all of this is that college is becoming more and more unaffordable for millions of everyday Americans. Hopkins, as one of the nation’s most best, yet most expensive, universities, needs to figure out how it can continue to attract the best and brightest in the nation and world, with a key part of that being to make sure that students aren’t turned away or they and their families put through undue hardship simply due to financial considerations.
