University ranked 25th most expensive in the country
A recent ranking reported by CBS showed the 50 most expensive four-year undergraduate universities in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a Jan. 14 article by CBSnews, the University was ranked number 25 out of the 50 most expensive universities in the country. CBS used data from the National Center for Education Statistics, which collects and reports universities’ undergraduate out-of-state tuition including fees and residential costs.
The University of Chicago took the spot for the most expensive, at $81,531 and Stanford was ranked number 50 with a tuition of $74,570. Brandeis ranked exactly in the middle of the group, with a $76,141 tuition reported by CBS. The National Center for Education Statistics reported a tuition of $76,141 for the 2020-2021 academic year, but the University website states that the updated tuition for academic year 2021-2022 is $76,456, showing a slight increase in the cost.
“High college costs continue to make the news,” explained the article’s introduction, and this is not the first time the University itself has been in the news regarding high tuition costs.
When the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, many universities moved to remote learning to ensure the safety of students and faculty — including Brandeis. Some students and parents reacted to this through a lawsuit, seeking refunds for their spring 2020 semester tuition and requesting tuition changes for future remote learning semesters. A consumer rights law firm, Hagens Berman, represented these students and parents in a class action lawsuit against the University.
The CBS article mentioned that the “era of COVID” has changed students’ college experience but the one aspect that has remained consistent is tuition. On this news, the office of student financial service commented to the Justice: “The recent ranking by the National Center for Education Statistics was based solely on ‘sticker’ price. As stated in the article, the study did not consider the amount of need- and merit-based scholarships offered by each University, which makes a significant impact on the true cost to students and families. Brandeis University is proud to meet 100% of calculated financial need for all of its students, which makes our net price (cost of attendance minus scholarship aid) very competitive. In its 2022 rankings, Brandeis was ranked #40 in best value amongst national universities in U.S. News and World Report and was also named a best value by The Princeton Review.”
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