Private colleges cutting tuition

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Posted 8:22AM on Tuesday, January 15, 2002

BETHANY, WEST VIRGINIA - One peek at Bethany College and 18-year-old Amanda Sullivan was sold - its setting in the West Virginia hills and small size made it her favorite as she looked at schools. ``I thought it was so gorgeous,'' said Sullivan, who attended a wedding on the campus and later toured it with her mother. ``I liked the idea of a smaller campus. I have a friend who goes here, she's a freshman, and she said her largest class was 16 people.'' But Bethany was a tough sell to Sullivan's parents in Hopedale, Ohio - until the private college announced last October it was slashing tuition from $20,650 to $12,000 for the 2002 freshman class. (Tuition will remain at the old level for other students, but they'll get more financial aid relative to freshmen. This week, Sullivan is planning to join the growing number of applicants to Bethany, one of a handful of modest-sized colleges that have lowered their prices to boost enrollment. At Bethany, the results have been dramatic. Applications have soared from 501 for a spot in 2001's freshmen class to 658 for the incoming freshmen class this fall. ``When I read about them cutting the tuition, I was so excited,'' said Anna Sullivan, Amanda's mother. ``I thought maybe now we can swing it.'' At least 10 private colleges have cut tuition since 1996, when Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio, dropped it by 29 percent, according to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Washington. Their goal: keep private colleges in business by keeping them affordable. ``This region has been touched by the decline of the steel and coal industry and private education has moved beyond the reach of many families,'' said Bethany President D. Duane Cummins. ``We identified the problem of being priced beyond the reach of our market.'' His college, affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), hopes to make up for the radical price cut by also reducing the overall financial aid it provides in the form of scholarships, merit awards and grants, and by adding about 100 students to its current enrollment of 774. School officials figure they can accommodate up to 900 students without adding faculty or buildings, while still maintaining a family-like atmosphere. Students often visit faculty in their homes near the 161-year-old college, nestled in scenic foothills of the Allegheny Mountains 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Cummins said the quality of applicants has risen with the number of them. The average GPA this year is 3.45, compared with 3.3 a year ago, he said. Slashing tuition also helped draw more applicants to Muskingum and Wells College in Aurora, N.Y. Wells, a 450-student institution for women, took the plunge in 1999, cutting tuition and fees from $17,540 to $12,300. Enrollment rose 25 percent. ``We are very pleased with the results,'' said Susan Sloan, Wells' director of admissions. ``We have not seen any downside.'' Tony Pals, a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, which represents nearly 1,000 private campuses, said that schools facing consumer resistance to climbing prices are taking a variety of steps. Some reduced tuition. Others offer more financial aid. ``It really depends on the institution's student population and the types of families they are recruiting,'' Pals said. ``Some families respond to the low-tuition model. Other families, including those of lower income and minorities, and those who have not sent a child to college before, want institutional aid because they often feel like they may not have enough income to afford tuition.'' Cost-cutting is not always a success. At private Bluefield College in Virginia, enrollment has stayed around 850 despite reducing tuition, said college spokesman Chris Shoemaker. Like Bethany, the campus is in coal country, where the sluggish economy has forced an exodus of families seeking work. ``We're battling tough demographics,'' Shoemaker said. Private colleges will always struggle to balance the price of tuition and the market's willingness to pay it, said Roland King at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. ``Maintaining that balance is what keeps admissions directors up at night so that their colleges remain solvent,'' he said.