Considerations of A Tuition Reset at Small, Non-Selective Liberal Arts Colleges

Holt, L. (2019) Considerations of A Tuition Reset at Small, Non-Selective Liberal Arts Colleges [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of New England.

https://dune.une.edu/theses/246/

Small, non-selective liberal arts colleges have been increasingly caught in a cycle of deepening discount rates to ensure student enrollments while raising tuition rates to earn more funds from students paying the full cost. However, discounting tuition to attract students can lead to a point of diminishing returns. The action to undertake a tuition reset is a long-term, complex series of choices involving hard work and hard decisions. The colleges studied looked how the reset had served their student populations through decreased debt load, better use of grant and financial aid funding, and the students’ reaction to the reset in general rather than the colleges’ financial gain from the reset.