Berkeley is Cheap

So the latest round of protests on the Berkeley campus is over the recent 30% hike in tuition, bringing in-state tuition to around $10k. That definitely sucks for those paying the bills, but people really need to view this in a broader context. The cost of attending a four-year college needs to be weighed against a handful of other factors including: availability of need-based aid, average debt upon graduation, quality of education (student/faculty ratios and all that jazz), average time to graduation. The folks at Kiplinger put together a ranking every year that does some of this:

Kiplinger's Best Value Colleges

Woah! How about that? The various University of California schools rank right at the top of this list of the most economical schools in the nation. How can that be? Berkeley is, after all, the most expensive university on this list! But the university covers 88% of students' financial need (meaning, it provides that much in grants, not loans). Furthermore, 1/3 of this tuition hike is going towards financial aid, so those who are really in need will be taken care of.

Also, keep in mind that this only lists the top 100. So any university on this list is a deal. A couple universities not on this list are the University of Michigan, which charges in-state students about $13k, and Penn State, which weighs in at $14.5k.

Now, I went to a cheap school (NC State). It's often cited as one of the best value colleges in the country (Princeton Review ranked it 2nd!). Tuition there is currently around $5500/year. But it actually falls slightly behind Berkeley on this list in the only two metrics that (in my opinion) truly matter: percent of financial need met (81% versus 88%) and average student debt upon graduation ($14,930 versus $14,453). Furthermore, I doubt anyone would argue that NC State is a better school that Berkeley. Hell, according to the Chinese, Berkeley's the best public school in the world (and 3rd overall). Wouldn't you expect it to cost a little more than average?

So yes, Berkeley will cost you a lot if you have a lot to pay. The philosophy of a public university is that it should be financially accessible to everyone in the state while keeping the quality of education as high as possible. The only way to do this is to make people pay in proportion to their income. Private schools do it too. Sure, "tuition" might be the same for everyone, but poor folks get some or all of that money diverted back to them.

If you're rich you might complain about this policy. But as a general rule, if you're rich, you really shouldn't complain about things. If you're poor, you've probably got nothing to worry about because your financial aid will go up to cover the tuition increase. Those folks in the middle--the ones who's FAFSA tells them they can afford X but for whatever reason X is just too high (I was in this category)--are the ones who will suffer the most (and generally ARE the ones to suffer the most in any economic crunch). But if you do well, there are scholarships. Apply for them! There are tons of them out there. And as a last resort, there are loans. College loans! What a wonderful concept: pay for college at a later date, when, thanks to your degree, you can actually afford it!

Nobody should ever say "I can't go afford to go to such-and-such college". I believe that if you're a good student you can attend any college in America. Period. But you've got to work for it. That's the American way.