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The Insane Cost of Attending Wake Forest

Our son will be starting at Wake this fall. I finished at Wake in 92 so the difference in cost is substantial. We didn't think it would be an option at all. When we went through the Net price calculator just to see what it would cost, I was shocked. I'm an elementary principal in public schools of NC and my wife is paid a part time salary to help manage our family's rental properties. Our situation probably hits right where Wake is trying to recruit middle income students and it doesn't hurt that my dad went to Wake law and my sister and I attended undergrad. Anyway, the net price calculator showed Wake costing us less than state schools in NC for our situation. I actually called the Admissions office to ask exactly how accurate the calculator is.
 
421Deac said:
Our son will be starting at Wake this fall. I finished at Wake in 92 so the difference in cost is substantial. We didn't think it would be an option at all. When we went through the Net price calculator just to see what it would cost, I was shocked. I'm an elementary principal in public schools of NC and my wife is paid a part time salary to help manage our family's rental properties. Our situation probably hits right where Wake is trying to recruit middle income students and it doesn't hurt that my dad went to Wake law and my sister and I attended undergrad. Anyway, the net price calculator showed Wake costing us less than state schools in NC for our situation. I actually called the Admissions office to ask exactly how accurate the calculator is.
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I'm trying to figure out how this is possible and I can't. What am I missing?
 
421Deac said:
Our son will be starting at Wake this fall. I finished at Wake in 92 so the difference in cost is substantial. We didn't think it would be an option at all. When we went through the Net price calculator just to see what it would cost, I was shocked. I'm an elementary principal in public schools of NC and my wife is paid a part time salary to help manage our family's rental properties. Our situation probably hits right where Wake is trying to recruit middle income students and it doesn't hurt that my dad went to Wake law and my sister and I attended undergrad. Anyway, the net price calculator showed Wake costing us less than state schools in NC for our situation. I actually called the Admissions office to ask exactly how accurate the calculator is.
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Thanks for the insight from someone who has actually gone through the application process recently. It seems what most do now (which has been the case for years) is to apply and then make their decision after the financial aid packages are released.
 
Kinda weird how this thread turned almost immediately from "how can a university get away with charging $70k a year and increasing tuition 2-3x inflation?" to "how will universities be able to survive in the future?" The fact that we were asking the first question answers the second question - if people are paying 70k a year and universities are increasing tuition 2-3x inflation, there's obviously demand for their product. As long as employers need an efficient and reliable way to distinguish good candidates, they'll continue to value students from strong schools, people will continue to pay a lot of money to go to those strong schools, and universities won't go anywhere.

It is ironic and sad though that in an age where information and knowledge are more available than ever and cheaper than ever, education is more expensive than ever. But knowledge and education aren't why people pay sticker price for top private universities. They pay for lines on their resumes and connections.
 
inspectah said:
I'm trying to figure out how this is possible and I can't. What am I missing?
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Seems Wake’s endowment allows them to offer more assistance than a state school can. When we got the actual financial aid package it is costing us more than what the calculator predicted but that’s not surprising. Wake’s use of the CSS as well as FAFSA makes sure they know about all your resources.
We applied early decision and he was accepted and we got financial aid info soon after. He’s an excellent student with a great resume who fits that middle income profile like I mentioned before so I’m guessing that’s why we received a great financial aid package. He’s also a finalist for the Poteat scholarship so hopefully that will happen as well.
 
Rafi said:
Thanks for the insight from someone who has actually gone through the application process recently. It seems what most do now (which has been the case for years) is to apply and then make their decision after the financial aid packages are released.
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When we saw what Wake could offer, we were amazed that we could pay basically the same as we would for an in state school and go there. Some of the costs that Wake lists are costs you’re going to have anywhere you go so we removed those figures from the equation. If we hadn’t received so much financial aid, we wouldn’t be able to do it and it wouldn’t make much sense either.
 
timthedeac said:
It is ironic and sad though that in an age where information and knowledge are more available than ever and cheaper than ever, education is more expensive than ever. But knowledge and education aren't why people pay sticker price for top private universities. They pay for lines on their resumes and connections.
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This is a pretty cynical perspective. And more than ironic or sad, the fact that we have access to more information than ever before seems to suggest that we desperately need to train people how to think critically, to filter information, to distinguish real from fake. Higher ed does a lot more than provide a CV line and a network and professors do a hell of a lot more than spew internet-available information at students.
 
Yep. The worst thing for young people to do is just suck up whatever information they can find on the internet.
 
421Deac said:
Our son will be starting at Wake this fall. I finished at Wake in 92 so the difference in cost is substantial. We didn't think it would be an option at all. When we went through the Net price calculator just to see what it would cost, I was shocked. I'm an elementary principal in public schools of NC and my wife is paid a part time salary to help manage our family's rental properties. Our situation probably hits right where Wake is trying to recruit middle income students and it doesn't hurt that my dad went to Wake law and my sister and I attended undergrad. Anyway, the net price calculator showed Wake costing us less than state schools in NC for our situation. I actually called the Admissions office to ask exactly how accurate the calculator is.
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Thank you for sharing your story, and I am heartened by it. I assume your financial aid package came back with zero or near zero debt. Can you confirm? If so, then either you are a unique case, or Wake has a messaging problem - because we found that Wake would require more debt than Duke or UNC. Anyway, I am glad for you and your son, and I hope he enjoys Wake. I sure did. This thread may have died bc we like to bitch and moan about MSD, but if those complaints are unfounded then I'll gladly tip my Deacon top hat to her.
 
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So, I had a meeting with a very well known (in my industry) attorney from D.C. This guy went to Notre Dame and LOVES ND football. He is about 65-70 and is one of those uber-ND fans. Anyway,towards the end of the meeting, I tell him that I went to Wake and I was planning on heading down to the Wake/ND football game. The guy looks at me for a minute and then says, "I didn't realize you went to Wake. My son is a high school junior. It's really hard to get into now."

First, LOL at this kind of back-handed compliment (more like a comment actually) to me. But then he goes on to say how since they don't require the SAT, the GPA requirement is much higher than it used to be. I have no idea whether this is true. Second, I told him it was damn hard to get into when I applied in 1996 (I mean, WTF). I don't know his kids' deal and whether he's smart or not. I know that he goes to one of the elite D.C. private schools for boys. Does this sound right to anyone? It can't possibly be HARDER to get in now than pre-SAT, right?

Anyway, this guy goes on to talk about Bryant Crawford being from D.C., Nathan Hatch from ND and how much he loves Wake. Sounds like his son isn't getting in though.

So Pit, is it harder to get into Wake now than before the removal of the SAT requirement?
 
Yes, it is harder, but the no-SAT is coincidental, not causal, imho.
 
Deacfreak07 said:
Yes.

Did you expect it to be otherwise?
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I did. With the initiative to grow the University, I assumed that they were letting more kids in that could "afford" Wake which would have dropped the quality of the student somewhat. I haven't looked at any data as my kids aren't close to college age yet. Frankly, I'm surprised if they were able to grow the University in such a significant way AND get better students. That would seem to be difficult to achieve.
 
deacondamo said:
I did. With the initiative to grow the University, I assumed that they were letting more kids in that could "afford" Wake which would have dropped the quality of the student somewhat. I haven't looked at any data as my kids aren't close to college age yet. Frankly, I'm surprised if they were able to grow the University in such a significant way AND get better students. That would seem to be difficult to achieve.
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Even if that’s true (and I think it is), it doesn’t make it easier to get in. But if that guy is as loaded as it seems, his kid may be fine.
 
Flutie Effect. Athletic success results in increased applications.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2013/04/29/the-flutie-effect-how-athletic-success-boosts-college-applications/#42f27486e96e

Enter Chung, whose recent research paper, The Dynamic Advertising Effect of Collegiate Athletics, shows how on-field heroics can benefit schools by increasing both the quantity and the quality of students they can expect to attract.

His findings include:

--When a school rises from mediocre to great on the gridiron, applications increase by 18.7 percent.

--To attain similar effects, a school has to either lower tuition by 3.8 percent or increase the quality of its education by recruiting higher-quality faculty, who are paid 5 percent more than their average peers in the academic labor market.

--Students with lower-than-average SAT scores tended to have a stronger preference for schools known for athletic success, while students with higher SAT scores preferred institutions with greater academic quality. Also, students with lower academic prowess valued the success of intercollegiate athletics for longer periods of time than the high SAT achievers.

--Even students with high SAT scores are significantly affected by athletic success—one of the biggest surprises from the research, Chung says.

--Schools become more academically selective with athletic success.
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Our field hockey success is finally paying off.
 
I think I wrote a paper for first year seminar on that topic, back when we were good at basketball
 
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