College blog Campus Grotto released an article Dec. 6 that named Drexel University the most expensive college in the country by net price for the 2011-2012 school year.
The article, titled “A Look at Expensive Schools and their Net Price,” aimed to make a distinction between a university’s “sticker price” and the amount that students actually pay. The net price of the 100 most expensive schools was calculated by deducting the average grant offered by each institution from the total cost. Drexel’s net price, according to the website, is $40,491, with an average grant of $14,844.
Courtesy The LexerdLate Drexel President Constantine Papadakis was recently named by the Philadelphia Inquirer as the highest paid chief executive of a private university. The University contested this claim.
Answering on behalf of University President John A. Fry, a Drexel spokeswoman cited inaccuracies in this article.
“The tuition figures used by Campus Grotto are for four-year students only,” she said. “However, most of Drexel’s freshmen are five-year students, who have a much lower set of costs.”
Students in the five-year program are billed $47,935, as she pointed out, and the average weighted cost across four and five-year students is $50,816.
“When this difference is taken into account, the net cost drops by $4,519, placing Drexel significantly lower on the list,” the spokeswoman said.
“In addition, calculating the ‘average University discount’ for students rather than the ‘average need-based grant’ would lead to much more accurate calculations of an average net price.”
She noted that Drexel’s net price is lower than many peer institutions when each institution’s average discount is taken into account.
“Net-price calculations also don’t take into account student earnings from Drexel’s co-op program, through which students typically earn $10,000 to $15,000 over a six-month period.”
A day before the contested Campus Grotto article was released, The Philadelphia Inquirer came out with an article naming late Drexel President Constantine Papadakis the highest-paid chief executive of a private college ever. According to the piece, which cited a salary survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education, Drexel paid $4.9 million for life insurance, salary and other benefits.
According to Niki Gianakaris, Drexel’s director of media relations, $4.2 million of this total went to life insurance and deferred compensation paid to Papadakis’ family.
Nonetheless, Drexel continues to make headlines for its expenditures, and the latest information released around the Drexel University Strategic Plan suggests projects with hefty price tags in the near future.
While not every student will agree with him, sophomore health service administration major Jordan Morton says he sees going to Drexel as an investment.
“While the price tag that comes along with Drexel often seems way too high, I personally feel that education is the one thing that cost shouldn’t deter you from,” he said. “Since I’m putting a quarter of a million dollars into my education, I’m hoping my future return is worth the initial investment.”
He continued, “Sure, I could have gone to lots of other good schools for half the cost of Drexel, but they wouldn’t have given me the opportunities that Drexel has. It has a ton to offer, and our reputation is growing every day.”
Beyond its co-op program and financial aid opportunities, Drexel also offers the Yellow Ribbon Program for Post 9/11 Veterans and their dependents, which allows those individuals to have their tuition paid in part by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
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bwahahahaha:
“Net-price calculations also don’t take into account student earnings from Drexel’s co-op program, through which students typically earn $10,000 to $15,000 over a six-month period.”
Really?! It's funny, I remember my financial aid from Drexel dropping DRAMATICALLY while I was on co-op.. why? because my income increased and there for my "need" decreased..
This doesn't make ANY sense. 5 year students have a lower cost than 4 year students? No we don't! We pay for an extra year! And not all co-ops earn $10,000 to $15,000, because most co-ops for students in the art schools are UNPAID. I do agree that Drexel is an investment; you really can't put a price on college education because it teaches you the essentials you need for the rest of your life. I will say, though, that most colleges seem to have their students best interest in mind while through my experience at this school, Drexel is only concerned with itself. The "Drexel Shaft" is at its best here.
I would like to ask this mysterious spokeswoman about the figure she came up. If Drexel's net price was miscalculated, due to the fact that many students are here for a full 5 years, then what would the new price be? Because according to this article, the original net price of Drexel was totaled to be $40,491. Well then if I did my math correctly, after subtracting the $4,519 savings, Drexel comes out to costing $35,972. That’s just dollars under what the reported number 2 and 3 are(American University and Bard College respectively). In fact, according to Campus Grotto, that number still places Drexel squarely at number 3 (right above Fordham University and NYU). A far cry from her quote of a “significantly lower” position. In addition, the notion that the University would use the co-op experience, “the ultimate internship,” to justify the outrageous amount they charge is almost funny, if not demeaning to the Co-op program in general. If I remember correctly, Co-op 101 did not stress the fact that this program was instilled so that Drexel could charge thousands of dollars more for tuition.
cont: I mean, I may have misunderstood, but my impression was that co-op was supposed to provide first-hand experience in the professional field you will someday inhabit, an “invaluable” experience that other universities do not offer. And how come other private co-op schools (say like Northeastern University, a school that reportedly has the largest co-operative education program in the US) have dropped off of Campus Grotto’s list, while Drexel has steadily climbed to the top.
cont: Given the rise in the cost of living, the ever-so-slowly recovering economy, and the fact that Drexel now has more students paying tuition than ever, I see no need for this school to be essentially exploiting its students. And that is what it is doing. I feel that there is a bigger story here and that rising tuition is not just a Drexel problem. The pepper-spraying incident at the University of California, Davis is just a testament to scope of the issue. However, in true Drexel spirit, our school is once again leading the pact! Only this time it is in the cost to obtain an education. I have included links to Campus Grotto article if anyone wants to check my facts. There is also meme of the pepper spraying cop. At first it seems ridiculous, but when you think about it, is it really that far of the mark then what some of the Drexel spokespeople have tried to say in order to justify this figure. Maybe I’m exaggerating, but I just get really passionate about my investments. My bad. http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/memes/best-pepper-… http://www.campusgrotto.com/a-look-at-expensive-s…