Small, private colleges and universities have turned to slashing tuition prices in order to convince potential applicants to apply and eventually attend.
The Washington Post reported that several private colleges and universities cut their tuition prices, but no notable private or public university has done so.
At least 100 colleges are planning to lower their tuition prices because of declining enrollment and overall doubt in society about the value of a college degree. One college, Colby-Sawyer College, said that it will lower its tuition from $46,364 to $17,500, a cut of 62%. Colby-Sawyer College has an enrollment of around 800 students and is located in New London, New Hampshire.
Another small college, Lasell University, said it will slash tuition by a third of its current price. Lasell has an enrollment of about 2,000 students and it is located around 12 miles west of Boston, Massachusetts.
Despite declines in tuition prices, college tuition is still expensive. The annual average still sits at a pricey $57,570 a year for private colleges. Public colleges average around $27,000 for in-state students and $45,000 for out-of-state students. A major problem is that, as a government report pointed out, tuition rose three times as much as other goods and services from 2006 to 2016.
No wonder an increasing majority of Americans are skeptical about attending college. One survey said that 1 in 3 Americans doubt the usefulness of attending college.
