I’m not a fan of CNN’s Glenn Beck, but I did read his column about Harvard’s endowment. While there is a lot of politics in the post, one fact did standout. According to Beck:
For what’s been estimated to be about $300 million a year (less than 1 percent of their endowment’s value) Harvard could completely waive tuition, room and board for every single one of their students. Instead, they announced an increase in those fees of about 3.5 percent for next year. Being a student at Harvard will now cost a staggering $47,215 a year.
I went to Harvard. My parents were typical middle class (both educators) and when I opened my financial aid letter I was offered … NOTHING! That’s when I became a fanatic about applying for scholarships. But even with outside scholarships my parents still had to struggle to pay the tuition bill that arrived each semester. So you can imagine my reaction when a week before graduation the college approached me for a donation to the “senior gift fund.” Here I was after four years of tuition bills at a University which constantly flaunted their multi-billion dollar endowment, being asked to make a donation. To make matters worse, the minimum Harvard said it would accept was $20 — something about bank processing fees making anything less not worth the expense. Yeah right! But not wanting to be accused of lacking school spirit or seeming ungrateful for the (and this is totally honest) amazing college experience, I did the only thing my conscious would allow: I wrote a check for $1.
So, when I read Beck’s column a part of me totally agreed. Why not?! And yet … I could not get myself to fully agree. In part it’s because there are plenty of kids whose family’s can afford it. It seems unfair that they would get a free ride along with those who actually needed the help. But that’s a small issue. My bigger problem is that the price of tuition is what forces you to be critical about the quality of the education that you are getting.Without a price how can we judge value?
But it’s more than that. Without price, would we even question value? When something is free what are our expectations? Not much! You get what you pay for, as the saying goes. But when you put a price on something you also force a value judgment. Harvard can price its education anyway it wants. But as students (née consumers) we still must answer “is it worth it?” Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives. I know more than a few students who have turned down Harvard (and other similarly expensive schools) to go to their state universities. They did this because they looked at the prices of each, compared what they were getting and made the decision that their state schools were a better value. This is especially common today when you consider the importance of graduate school. If you’re going to be a doctor, go to the cheapest college you can, take advantage of every opportunity you’re given and then blow your money on Harvard Med School. That will have a more significant impact on your future than if you did it the other way around.
Now before you think that I believe everyone should pay. I don’t. I do believe in financial aid and in providing assistance to those who cannot afford it. And I certainly feel that Harvard has been treating middle class families unfairly. This has been somewhat corrected with recent changes to the financial aid policies which are only now more generous toward middle class students. When I got accepted I certainly didn’t expect Harvard to pay for everything, but I had hope to get a little more than nothing!
As easy as the numbers make it seem, transforming a Harvard education into a freebie is not the answer to the soaring cost of college. And I don’t mind the fact that Harvard has a $34.6 billion endowment. In fact, I can honesty say that without my contribution — which Harvard did find a way to cash — the endowement would only be $34,599,999,999.
