🎓 How much could I save attending a private university instead of an in state public school after financial aid?

One of the biggest college misconceptions is that state schools are automatically cheaper. As Priya puts it, the misconception is that state schools are cheaper than going to a private university. That's actually extremely untrue. She found that UCLA and Berkeley would have actually been more expensive for The Almost Astrophysicist to go to compared to the University of Chicago, which, even though their sticker price for tuition is much higher, they just covered so much of it because of aid.

Public universities usually have a lower sticker price, especially for in-state residents, but they rely on state funding and have smaller endowments to fund institutional aid. Often, the main source of free aid is federal.

As Priya notes, Pell grants are essentially the one grant that is offered at the federal level which is six thousand four hundred ninety five dollars a year. Enter your expected in-state sticker price and any government grants you anticipate receiving.

Private universities have terrifying sticker prices, but their massive endowments provide significantly more funding per student. As Priya points out, looking at a 2019 study, it shows that 89 of freshman students who go to private universities get financial aid. For those students, almost 60 percent of their tuition was covered.

Elite schools can be even more generous. As Priya says, over the four years The Almost Astrophysicist had 70 percent of their tuition covered, and they had absolutely no federal aid. At UChicago, if your family is making under 125 000 a year, everything is covered. Everything, that's insane.