The cost of attending Harvard might actually be a more affordable option than going to a Cal State University school, according to an article from the Bay Area News Group.
Due to increasing tuition costs for CSU enrollment, and the large amount of financial aid given by top private schools, Harvard has become an economically feasible possibility for middle-class students.
According to data collected by the Bay Area News Group, a California centralized newspaper company, the on-campus living and tuition expenses for a freshman from a household of four, earning $130,000 annually, would be roughly $7,000 more expensive per year at a Cal State than it would be at Harvard.
Alexander Stewart, a business major, said he would have explored the option of attending a private school further, had he known it could have ultimately been more affordable.
“I went to [Cal State] Long Beach because, at 24, I got full financial aid,” Stewart said. “If I have to pay all this money for a Cal State, I’d rather go to a private school and get a degree that would be more recognizable.”
CSU spokesman Erik Fallis said that one of the reasons private universities such as Harvard can afford to give so much financial aid is because of their relatively small student population, and large endowments.
“Private institutions, especially those that are heavily research based, tend to have larger endowments than public institutions,” Fallis said. “That endowment provides them with a lot of funding that practically no institution has.”
Another reason students tend to look toward the CSU as a cheaper option is the possibility of living at home while attending school.
According to Fallis, a small percentage of CSU students actually live on campus.
“If you’re a student who’s living at home and attending college, the cost is definitely much lower,” Fallis said.
For Eric Hernandez, a computer science graduate student, price and convenience played a part in his decision to attend CSULB, but he said he was skeptical of the affordability of private schools.
“I’ve known people that have gone into debt over $200,000 for a master’s in education at USC,” Hernandez said.