Feel free to double check my work, but I believe these huge endowments are about to be taxed? If not, then they certainly should.
Berea College has always intrigued me. $0 tuition, so every decision they make has to revolve around making sure students can always attend free or charge. It's an outside the box thought, but what if the state of Kentucky decided to move in that direction? None of our state schools is academically significant to begin with, so what do they have to lose? It sure would be an amazing feat if a state had the balls to promote their University system as the only one in the country where students can attend for 4 years at no cost.
Edit: Some of this is relevant to your post, a lot not. I get carried away.
I'm have way through getting my kids(1 grad, 1 in school, 1 on the way) bachelors degrees at UK. UK, I consider, is pretty generous with tuition scholarships. Upper 20s act plus kees money will cover most of it. Very few get all tuition and even fewer get the full ride. The full ride hardly happens anymore. The full ride, tuition+room+board, is the singletary. My oldest had a singletary.
My UK freshman class was 2000-2500? and had 100 singletary scholars. Once UK quit operating their dorms and food service, total singletary scholars shrunk and then only offered a stipend toward room and board. My son was offered four years tuition and $10000/yr housing stipend(no board) for his first two years.
His freshman class was 6000+ and only 25 singletarys offered. Then, if an offer was declined because the recipient chose a better school in the end, this scholarship went unused. Only 19 singletary's were finally awarded.
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UK is charging the national average for instate tuition. I can speak to Tennessee, Ohio State and Alabama are right there. What's different between those schools is UK is trying to disparately grow. I think the last incoming class was 7000. That's not big for the
big schools, but that is huge for UK. In order to pull that off, UK is admitting all comers. We are now at a 95% acceptance rate. Average 21 ACT.
A close friend lives in Sarasota and is a parent of a high school senior. She was telling me how hard it was to get into UF or FSU. I was skeptical because wth it's a state school. Florida has made a priority that their flagships, UF and FSU, limit admission to about the current size of UK. They do this while holding tuition to
half of national average ($5600/year). I know they haven't found a cheaper way to educate. I know the state tax payer is picking up more of tab.
By limiting admissions and bargain basement tuition, the demand results in a 25% acceptance rate at both schools. Average 28act.
UF and FSU have similar room and board as everyone else.
If you don't make it into those two, the directional state schools are still available.
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My middle son was way out of the running for a singletary, but did get a provost. The most important class he took his hs senior year was an elective, How to Apply for Financial Aid and Scholarships. All of those $250/500/1000 scholarships add up. About 1/3 were renewable. If you decide on a narrow-road-less-traveled major, look into departmental scholarships. My middle received a $5000/yr four year renewable that way.
