Williams Cuts Tuition by 15 Percent

Bloomberg: "Williams College, the richest liberal arts school in the U.S., is reducing its cost by 15% for families on a one-time basis for the coming academic year and canceling sports competition and travel for the season as the coronavirus upends higher education ... Tuition, room and board for the 2020-2021 academic year will be $63,200. Family contributions for students receiving financial aid will also be reduced by 15%." Williams President Maud Mandel comments:“This reduction recognizes the fact that the pandemic and associated challenges are requiring us to cancel winter study as well as fall athletics competition and many student activities, among other opportunities that we usually encourage families to expect as part of their student’s education.”

"Schools across the U.S. are coping with uncertainty for the year that begins in August or September as it’s largely unclear whether in-person courses will be offered given the rise in Covid-19 cases. Students at dozens of schools have already balked at the full price for last semester’s tuition with months of online classes, suing for billions of dollars in refunds. A few dozen private colleges have cut their tuition charges over the years, but not typically the most elite ones."

"The move by Williams, which has about 2,100 students, may put pressure on other selective liberal arts schools to follow. Davidson College in North Carolina said in April that families could postpone their payments when the bills come in July ... The public College of William & Mary in May said it would roll back a previously adopted tuition increase for incoming in-state undergraduates and keep tuition and mandatory fees flat. The wealthiest schools such as Williams may have the most financial flexibility. The endowment at Williams was worth $2.9 billion as of June 2019, the most recent public value ... Students may opt to return to campus, study remotely or take a leave or gap year."

Sweet Briar: Small is the New Big

The Washington Post: "Sweet Briar, a private college in rural Virginia ... is marketing itself as a safe haven in the midst of a pandemic — and officials even hope that pitch might help shore up its future ... Meredith Woo, the president of Sweet Briar, contends that the biggest challenge for fall opening for any college is not testing or medical facilities — it’s keeping students apart. And Sweet Briar, a small women’s college, is a place that has never had stadiums packed with fans for football games, 700-person econ classes, or parties spilling out of fraternity houses."

"Many universities are now considering holding classes outside, to reduce the spread of the virus. At Sweet Briar, that’s always been a thing: Students study the butterflies that float around the campus and the bees busy in the school’s apiary, its bright beehives painted pastel colors. Engineering students compete in a cardboard regatta at a lake on campus, using duct tape and cardboard boxes to design boats that can get from one landing to another without sinking. Students can study sustainability at the school’s giant new greenhouse, where, on one recent afternoon, basil, lettuce and cherry tomatoes were poking up out of their dirt beds. That produce will be used for students’ meals, donated to needy families, and sold to people in the community who want to eat local food."

"Many of the school’s pastimes can be pandemic-friendly. Students ride horses, as part of the school’s nationally known equestrian program or just to enjoy the 18 miles of trails. (When they’re seniors, they get a day to ride anywhere they like, even right up to the president’s house, said Mimi Wroten, director of the riding program.) They paddle around near the boathouse. They wander campus, past the Georgian brick buildings, the pink roses that first inspired the Sweet Briar name, the vineyard, the forests of oak and chestnut and tulip poplar.

State Schools Reverse 'Brain Drain'

The New York Times: "State-funded universities have always striven to keep their states’ brightest students at home, knowing that many of those who leave their communities will never return. Now, as the pandemic erodes the economy and civil unrest sweeps the country, colleges are seeing renewed success in their efforts to reverse years of brain drain, with students responding to a new focus on basics, like family and community, over prestige ... Historically, Harvard has lowered its minimum standardized test scores for some students recruited from what it calls 'sparse country' — 20 largely rural states like Montana, South Dakota, Alabama and, yes, West Virginia, where few students tend to apply to elite universities."

"For state residents, tuition and fees at W.V.U. for 2019-20 were about $9,000 a year, plus $10,000 in room and board. By comparison, Yale University estimates the cost of attendance at $78,725 for 2020-21 ... The price difference was a big draw for Juliet Wanosky, who grew up in Parkersburg, 'an everybody-knows-everybody kind of town,' she said, and was valedictorian of her class this year. Her father is a chemical engineer, her mother a substitute school secretary. She toured M.I.T., Carnegie Mellon and Harvard before the high sticker prices scared her away from even applying."

"Some families don’t want their children leaving the state or going to schools with liberal reputations because they worry it will change them. Georgia Beatty said she gave up a spot at New York University in favor of West Virginia, where she is currently a senior, mainly because of the price difference. Now she is determined to broaden her opportunities by leaving the state for graduate school. But she has butted heads with her grandfather, a retired police officer, who believes that universities radicalize students, and that going out of state will make it worse, especially in this protest era."