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In reality, families who submit the Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (commonly called the FAFSA) will be awarded
federal and state grants if they qualify for them, as well as loans.
Then on top of that, BSC—like other colleges and universities—
will provide its own merit- and need-based nancial aid to bring
down a family’s out-of-pocket costs even further.
Thus, the published price is hardly ever the same thing as the
actual cost. And in fact, at Birmingham-Southern, where more than
90 percent of students receive nancial aid, the average amount of
scholarships and grants that BSC awards directly has been covering
about 70 percent of a student’s tuition and mandatory fees.
Yet not everyone knows that.
“Students and families are telling colleges all across the
United States—and they’re telling us—that encountering a
high published price is a real barrier to accessing a high-quality
education,” said BSC President Linda Flaherty-Goldsmith. “So we
decided to step up and do something about it.”
The numbers also tell a story
At many private colleges, the total published price has risen
to well above $50,000, factoring in the costs for housing, food,
books, and other expenses. This year at BSC, tuition and required
fees alone (not counting room and board) add up to $35,840.
Yet throughout the United States, only about 15 percent of
students attend colleges or universities with a tuition and fees
price higher than BSC’s. In fact, the majority of full-time students
obtain their four-year undergraduate degree from schools with
published tuition and fees of less than $12,000.
That’s because two out of every three of American students attend
a public institution. In the Southern states, students are even more
likely to choose a public university—here in Alabama, three out of
every four college-bound students end up at a public institution.
And many of them know that’s where they’re headed before
they even start their college search. According to Sallie Mae’s
annual study “How America Pays for College,” 54 percent of
America’s college-bound students will cross a college off their
consideration lists based on its published tuition price alone—
before applying to nd out what their own actual cost would be.
“A too-high published price causes people to walk away, even
though it’s very often not what they’ll really pay,” explained
Sara Newhouse, who has observed this phenomenon rsthand
as BSC’s vice president for admission and nancial planning.
“What’s more, when families are blinded by the published price,
they lose sight of how to calculate the overall value.”
Of course, affordability is only one variable in the value
equation. A family should also factor in what students get—both
during and after college—for their educational investment.
Birmingham-Southern is one of the most prestigious private
colleges and universities in the South, routinely lauded in
national rankings for the quality of the educational experience
and the successful outcomes our graduates attain as a result of it.
But too many students and families believe a BSC education is
simply beyond their reach.
“With our tuition reset, we want to make sure that the best
and brightest students have access to the kind of personalized,
challenging, hands-on educational experience of lasting worth
that BSC provides,” Flaherty-Goldsmith said.
Much deliberation
The college’s announcement of the tuition reset is the
culmination of a 14-month process of careful study, planning,
and preparation.
“As soon as Linda Flaherty-Goldsmith became president in
June 2016, she set a strategic priority of making the college more
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