A quick word on "Non-Profit"

[sanantone]

The mistake I see more often is that people don't understand the difference between taking in revenues and being for-profit, even when the organization is just breaking even. They think that anyone getting paid a salary makes an organization for-profit. They think that charging tuition to pay for operating costs makes an organization for-profit. They also don't understand the difference between having excess revenues (profits) and being for-profit. The word is for-profit, not we-make-a-profit. For-profit explains (at least it's supposed to explain) the organization's mission.

Do people expect faculty and staff to live off of prayers? Do people expect organizations to wish their buildings into existence? Do people expect private and public utility companies to give non-profit organizations free electricity, gas, and water? It's not going to happen, but there are a lot of people out there who think that every single organization is for-profit just because it accepts donations or charges for a service or product.

[tesu-acct-student]

Do people expect faculty and staff to live off of prayers? Do people expect organizations to wish their buildings into existence? Do people expect private and public utility companies to give non-profit organizations free electricity, gas, and water?

In my experience, the answer is yes, at least until you explain it to them.

I would add to this list needing to pay payroll taxes, filing annual returns to the government, other business compliance issues, and expecting people to donate their services to the "non-profit" without pay.

[dfrecore]

That is sometimes the case, not always the case. For example, If I was to compare the tuition of the non-profit SNHU VS. the for-profit APUS . Of course, there are many differences between the schools but the point is the generalizations are not completely accurate.

There is no way to make a generalization that non-profit schools are cheaper than for-profit schools; all of the Ivy League universities are non-profit. Here's some more info on Harvard in particular. Harvard

[sanantone]

Cheapest to most expensive by sector: public two-year (in-district), public four-year (in-state), for-profit, public four-year (out-of-state), and private non-profit.

Average Published Undergraduate Charges by Sector, 2015-16 - Trends in Higher Education - The College Board

The data are based on published tuition rates, not what students actually pay. Sticker prices at private, non-profit colleges are often higher than what students pay due to there being more grants and scholarships offered in comparison to for-profit colleges. On average, students of for-profit colleges graduate with the highest student loan debt. To be fair, for-profit colleges do tend to have a higher share of economically disadvantaged students. However, it does highlight how published tuition rate is not indicative of how much a student will actually pay.

http://ticas.org/sites/default/files/pub...ources.pdf

Since people often like to point out the high cost of Ivy League colleges, Princeton students graduated with an average of $6,600 in debt in 2014 even though the sticker price is over $41,000 per year.

10 Colleges Where Graduates Have the Least Debt - US News

[dfrecore]

Cheapest to most expensive by sector: public two-year (in-district), public four-year (in-state), for-profit, public four-year (out-of-state), and private non-profit.

Average Published Undergraduate Charges by Sector, 2015-16 - Trends in Higher Education - The College Board

The data are based on published tuition rates, not what students actually pay. Sticker prices at private, non-profit colleges are often higher than what students pay due to there being more grants and scholarships offered in comparison to for-profit colleges. On average, students of for-profit colleges graduate with the highest student loan debt. To be fair, for-profit colleges do tend to have a higher share of economically disadvantaged students. However, it does highlight how published tuition rate is not indicative of how much a student will actually pay.

http://ticas.org/sites/default/files/pub...ources.pdf

Since people often like to point out the high cost of Ivy League colleges, Princeton students graduated with an average of $6,600 in debt in 2014 even though the sticker price is over $41,000 per year.

10 Colleges Where Graduates Have the Least Debt - US News

I agree that Ivies CAN be less expensive overall since many students get scholarships, grants and tuition breaks. Harvard, for instance, only makes you pay up to 10% of tuition if your parents make up to $150k. What that means is that lower (haha) income students pay less than the rack rate. But I would point out that many of their students come from families with high incomes, thus they take out fewer student loans - they can afford to pay cash.

Just pointing out that non-profits are not necessarily cheaper than for-profit schools.

[sanantone]

I agree that Ivies CAN be less expensive overall since many students get scholarships, grants and tuition breaks. Harvard, for instance, only makes you pay up to 10% of tuition if your parents make up to $150k. What that means is that lower (haha) income students pay less than the rack rate. But I would point out that many of their students come from families with high incomes, thus they take out fewer student loans - they can afford to pay cash.

Just pointing out that non-profits are not necessarily cheaper than for-profit schools.

The cutoff is now $180,000, but it is true that students whose families make over $200,000 do pay a bulk of the tuition.

For-profits are able to operate more cheaply because they either have no buildings or the bare minimum. They also have less full-time faculty and pay them less overall. It's how for-profit prisons operate for less. Usually, the government agencies giving them the contracts mostly just give them low-security facilities because they rarely trust them with anything higher, but for-profit prisons save money on wages. In Texas, most county jailers will make over $30,000 and state corrections offers make about $34,000, IIRC. Plus, they get good benefits. The companies that have contracts with the state pay their officers $9-11 per hour and provide less training. While turnover rates are generally high in corrections, they are even higher at for-profit prisons. For-profit prisons tend to have lower background, psychological, and physical standards for their officers. Most of them have no physical agility or psychological test during the hiring process.

[april004]

my boyfriend went to one of the Ivies- U of Penn in Philadelphia. His parents had to take out a grand total of...........$2,000 for his ivy league education. SO even though tuition seems very expensive, they have alot of aid for students so that many leave with very low debt, if any. It's even better now. IF he had gone in 2009 instead of 1998 he might not even had to have his parents take out $2,000.

"Penn has substituted grants for loans in undergraduate financial aid packages since 2009. Next year, the average grant for students is estimated at $43,800. These grants do not require repayment."

https://news.upenn.edu/news/penn-announc...et-tuition

[Sagan]

If you are are going to comment on my generalization with specifics (which are welcomed), then you shouldn't follow those specifics with generalized blanket statements of your own such as for-profs stick with what brings in the money.

No, thank you.

[Togas]

Even at my state school.
$200-$300 for a text book (some are school specific editions or unique courses taught by authors of the book you use in class!). Sometimes no rent or sell back option
$1000ish per class
$80 for a sweat shirt?!

Getting fleeced on the public side as well.
Drives me nuts to see 50 people in my class. ($50K spent) and the whiteboards should have been replaced a year ago. Or my teacher is only making $55k for the year, yet teaching 200 kids per semester..