Last Friday, July 26, we shared a link in our weekly must-reads newsletter to a UVA Today article touting UVA’s recent Money Magazine and Princeton Review rankings. While we applaud national recognitions of our beloved alma mater, these rankings do not paint a full picture of the “affordability” of a UVA education. Even still, we will continue to share articles which do not entirely reflect our positions because one of our core pillars is to “Promote a culture of civil dialogue, the free exchange of competing ideas and intellectual diversity throughout the University.”
So what exactly is wrong with Princeton Review’s conclusion that UVA is “the No. 1 public school for financial aid and the third best-value public university in the country”?
On July 8, we released a review on the cost of attendance at Mr. Jefferson’s university compared to some of the leading American educational institutions. The bottom-line is that the UVA financial aid office provides full tuition grants for Virginia family incomes up to $100,000 (documented here). Virginia families between $100-150,000 receive at least $2,000 in grants. Each of the income thresholds have increased 20% over previous years. As of 2024, a Virginia family with an income of over $150,000 will not receive any need-based grants.
The overriding problem with these policies is that those coming from out-of-state in the upper-middle class and lower-end upper-class earners (full statistics here) are the group most unlikely to afford UVA. The current posting for third- and fourth-year out-of-state UVA undergraduate tuition and fees is $83,685. Even for a family making $200,000, after tuition, fees, and living expenses, that family’s income would become less than $100,000, moving that family out of the upper-class and into the center of the middle class, according to Forbes. How many families would choose to send their child to a school that will reduce their overall standard of living or bring decades of debt?
The bottom-line is that out-of-state economic diversity, which is never referenced by the Ryan administration, is declining and virtually extinct among the student body. Only the very rich and the poor/lower middle class on generous financial aid can afford to attend UVA. Others are certain to select other top state universities like UNC, Florida, Georgia, etc. which are $20-38,000 less per year. This is neither “great nor good.”
UVA is not cost competitive. Expenses must be drastically reduced. Our tuition levels (for both out-of-state and in-state students) prohibit deserving scholars from matriculating who would add to the cultural richness and educational diversity of the University.
The math is even worse when you factor in the costs are paid in after tax dollars…
Absolutely Walter. Not to mention families need to pay bills, mortgages, and save for retirement. The real family income level to afford UVA out-of-state is $275,000+ not $200,000.
The cost differential is $20,000 (UNC) to $38,000 (FL) per year for out-of-state students. US News & World Report ranks UNC #22, UVA #24, and FL #28. UVA is simply not cost competitive with our top peer public universities.Harvard is $82,866, less than UVA for a 3rd or 4th year student.Administrative expenses must be drastically reduced with 100% of the expenses applied to tuition reduction.
UVA may not be cost competitive, but it also isn’t worth it. There is a certain value to an elite sheep skin, but is there an actual education quality difference that justifies the cost? My data point comes from one of my children who was accepted to UVA but made a different school choice for pre-med. My very bright child was also wise enough to pick a school that gave good prep and laid a foundation for successful med school completion without all the extra undergrad debt that UVA would have meant. Nostalgic pride from having a legacy at UVA wouldn’t come close to the pride and admiration I have for the choices and accomplishments that actually happened.
2 of my 5 did UVA. One graduated in 2011 and one will graduate in 2025. Her costs seem triple my 2011 son. Part of that is she is a girl (yes, we know) and the baby, so I would guess adjusted for birth order and favoritism a 2.5 factor. And my perception of the education is less.Mike Rowe and GlennReynolds and Charlie Kirk have been making some strong arguments about cost/benefit. For many of the (worthless) majors there is none. A scam. A money laundering scheme to create more indoctrinated progressives to go be unhappy, work in NGOs and the government and demand more and more money to feed the beast.GET BACK TO EDUCATION
Aligning career hopes with education, cost, and capability is a tricky game. Mike Rowe makes an excellent point about the myth of college education being the career panacea. He points out that many waste money on four year degrees when they could have had more directed training in a trade that ultimately is both fulfilling and financially lucrative. I think he has a great point, but neither one of our children would have been a good fit as a welder no matter how much a skilled welder makes. When faced with the necessity of an academic path, choices made starting at undergrad will have huge implications for finances in the future. Rising costs for nonsense bells and whistles like study abroad programs to garner higher rankings is driving tuition to a mismatch with what is on the other side. Both of my children are in the medical field and both have residencies to get through. Residency salaries after a minimum of eight years of expensive schooling are fixed by Medicare in the $60k range. Residencies can last up to four years, and by the time that one manages to get past that into a competitive salary market, a person is in their thirties. At that age, a good tradesman may have been making six figures for 5 years or more, already purchased their first home and is saving for their family’s education future. $60k is not enough to pay average rent, car insurance, food, and monthly student loan payments unless you are married with someone with their own income to pool together. Who would want to be a doctor when faced with that especially if you don’t have a rich family or a DEI scholarship to help you through this financial gauntlet?
What you describe is just another aspect of the leftist objective to destroy the middle class and make everyone into serfs, including those in the medical field. You have only to look at the model of Venezuela as a guide to what is planned here. I am retired from healthcare in Florida and back in the mid-2000’s when Chavez took over all of a sudden we were having an influx of young med school graduates into Florida desperate to do anything in our state healthcare system so as to be able to live. Back in Venezuela the hospitals are a wreck and those people suffer mightily.The only hope for your children is Trump pure and simple. I would suggest they choose to help his campaign or it’s all over for their careers, and especially as to paying back those loans. Just the clear reality of what is now and will come.
Wait! There’s more….So you finally make it through…you are an official doc.Now you get to work incredibly long hours (with maybe some exceptions like dermatology where there might be more regularity, but still up early and go a long time) to then go through DEi trainings, microaggression trainings, be mandated to get an experimental “vaccine” AND have your medical judgment over-ridden by idiot, political hack bureaucrats, who, if you don’t comply, will force you out of the practice or try to take your license!
My family and friends are predominantly in healthcare going back generations. As to present day, given the onerous intrusions over decades by Big Pharma, insurance and other business entities, and all along with the government-ALL wanting a piece of the pie and interfering in the doctor/patient relationship the only remaining enjoyment is fulfilling a calling and a desire to heal the patient.My UVA roommate and best friend is a dermatologist who is still in practice. As to the financial side of his practice the ongoing yearly decline in medicare based fee schedules have caused him to be resigned to treating his practice as a hobby, basically. He never married, has no children or dependents and thereby is able to maintain a decent living standard.Medicine in this country has sadly been corrupted by the left to the point where the Hippocratic Oath means nothing. As we witnessed during the pandemic when doctors were manipulated with money payments to push the jab many of them knew was manifestly harmful.My friend enjoys his patients, the science, and art of medicine but financially amongst my group of UVA alumni friends his net worth he admits as being at the bottom. He is a great clinician and compassionate healer but no longer in this country does that translate into a viable financial future especially given the work and finances required to attain the status of physician as in the historical context.My country doctor grandfather died a month prior to my birth at a time when the work he did automatically assured a good lifestyle. And he is still revered in that little town in Alabama to this day some 70 years and counting.In the recent past few years there can be no doubt that the left is primarily responsible for the current sad state of the profession, as likewise I pointed out currently in Venezuela where I grew up.America is it time to wake up?!
Excellent point, Jim. The Administration running UVA does not comprehend the unsustainable financial burden they place on parents. Their children can attend UVA and select other reciprocal colleges tuition free given the cozy agreements among colleges.It is time to start applying business logic to managing UVA and other colleges. The cost of education has become absurdly unaffordable.
The other aspect to consider for families that don’t qualify for the financial aid, is that their student generally does not qualify for other kinds of aid including government loans. In order to afford premier schools, an “upper” middle class family that didn’t hock their lifestyle and put everything into a junk 529 plan may have to supplement other savings and income with private student loans. Private loans never get forgiven in vote buying schemes by certain presidents. Private loans often need family co-signatures to get close to reasonable rates. Now try to do all that with multiple children. Is it any wonder that supposedly privileged couples are more and more deciding not to have children?
Predictably along with destroying Jefferson’s legacy at UVA they will destroy his vision. In this case as to his intention that it be a university to serve on the national stage and not just state level.Once again the fact that when you are dealing with leftists they will only face reality when they run out of other people’s money. Therefore, remove sources of money including alumni donations, state, federal, foundations, etc. or accept the further destruction of the institution.