19 of the highest-ranked national universities in the U.S. cost $55,000 or more in yearly tuition, according to a Bloomberg analysis. The recently released 2023 U.S. News & World Report survey – viewed as the hallmark of college ranking in the academic community – placed Princeton University in New Jersey at #1, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, both in Cambridge, at #2 and #3. Yearly tuition at these prestigious universities cost $57,410, $57,986 and $57,261, respectively.
The sky-high tuition at these universities is emblematic of a larger increase in college and university tuition across the country in recent decades. From 2002 to 2022, tuition for private universities increased by 134%, according to U.S. News. Out-of-state tuition at public universities soared 141% within the same time frame, while in-state tuition at public colleges jumped 175%. Coupled with rising inflation that has increased the price of everyday goods and services, the escalating costs of higher education has made attendance at four-year colleges and universities prohibitively expensive for families without economic means.
High tuition prices severely impact low-income families, who are also disproportionately families of color. Studies have shown that the average white family owns 10 times more wealth than the average Black and Latino family in the U.S. Research from Brookings has also revealed that college is one of the best tools for upward mobility, enabling graduates to climb the social and economic ladder and acquire more wealth and economic opportunities than their parents had access to. The ever-increasing cost of higher education can jeopardize the ability of low-income and minority students to attend institutions of higher education, and in so doing decrease their potential to achieve financial security.
Robert F. Smith’s Passion for Expanding Access to Higher Education
Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, is steadfast in his support of higher education institutions and the young minds that make them thrive. The Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University was renamed in 2016 after Smith’s sustained financial support for the school. Smith’s contributions have helped create programs that support women and minority students pursuing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees at Cornell. Some programming includes:
- The Robert F. Smith Undergraduate Scholarship Fund, which provides seven undergraduate students with $45,000 in tuition grants to attend Cornell
- The Robert F. Smith Graduate Fellowship Fund, which provides 12 masters students and five doctoral students support through their graduate studies
Smith also works to mitigate college debt, which can be debilitating for many college graduates. He is widely known for his $34 million contribution to Morehouse College that eliminated the student debt of the university’s graduating class of 2019. Smith is also the founding director and President of Fund II Foundation, which seeks to “preserve the African American experience, safeguard human rights, provide music education, preserve the environment while promoting the benefits of the outdoors and sustain critical American values such as entrepreneurship.” Smith is also involved in the internXL program, which seeks to address the burdens of student debt and connect college students to paid internships at prestigious companies to advance their professional experiences.
Follow Smith on LinkedIn to keep up with his work to help students of color.
