For years, the cost of attending a private college seemed to move in only one direction: up. Families became accustomed to seeing annual tuition prices of $40,000, $50,000 or even more before scholarships and financial aid were factored in.
Now, some private colleges are trying something very different. They’re dramatically lowering their published tuition prices, with at least one school cutting tuition and fees by 40%.
But these reductions aren’t necessarily as simple as colleges suddenly deciding to charge students thousands of dollars less. They’re part of a larger shift in how some schools are thinking about pricing, financial aid and what families see before they ever submit an application.
High tuition prices may be scaring families away
Private colleges have traditionally been able to advertise high tuition prices and then offer substantial scholarships and grants that bring down what individual students actually pay. The problem is that families don’t always stick around long enough to find out what their final price would be.
According to The Wall Street Journal, some colleges have found that prospective students are ruling them out because of the advertised price before applying and seeing what financial aid they might receive. That has schools reconsidering whether a high sticker price still works in their favor.
Carroll College is cutting its published price by 40%
Carroll College in Montana recently announced that beginning with the 2027-28 academic year, published undergraduate tuition and general fees will drop from $44,712 to $26,800.
That’s a 40% reduction. The college says the change is intended to replace its previous high-tuition, high-discount approach with a price that more closely reflects what many families actually pay after institutional aid.
A 40% tuition cut doesn’t mean every family will save 40%
This distinction matters for families reviewing these announcements.
Carroll says its scholarships and other institutional financial aid will be adjusted alongside the lower tuition price. Current students whose circumstances remain the same can generally expect their out-of-pocket costs to remain about the same or decrease compared with what they otherwise would have paid, rather than suddenly receiving a 40% reduction in their actual bill.
In other words, part of what’s changing is the number families see at the beginning of the college-shopping process.
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Other private colleges are making big changes, too
Carroll isn’t alone. Coe College in Iowa is reducing its published tuition by about 45%, bringing it to $31,850 beginning next fall.
The previous sticker price wasn’t necessarily what students were paying, either. During the 2023-24 academic year, no students at Coe paid the full published price, and average aid exceeded $40,000 per student, according to data cited in the report.
That helps explain why lowering the published price doesn’t necessarily mean a college is giving up the equivalent amount of money from every student.
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Some private colleges are competing more directly with public universities
The changes aren’t limited to across-the-board tuition resets. Some schools are finding other ways to make their prices look more competitive with public universities.
Marist University, for example, announced that qualifying New York families earning less than $200,000 won’t pay more than $32,000 annually for tuition, housing and dining beginning in 2027. Union College is taking another approach, offering a $30,000 annual scholarship to virtually any student from New York.
These approaches make it harder to assume that a private college will automatically be more expensive than a public option based solely on its advertised tuition.
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Student debt is changing the conversation, too
Sticker price isn’t the only number families are paying attention to. The amount students may need to borrow can also influence whether a college feels financially realistic.
Some colleges are responding by changing their financial aid packages rather than simply lowering tuition. Carleton College in Minnesota, for example, plans to eliminate loans from its financial aid packages beginning in fall 2027 and instead meet demonstrated financial need through grants, scholarships and employment.
Lower tuition doesn’t necessarily mean lower quality
One reason colleges historically hesitated to dramatically reduce their published tuition was the concern that families might associate a lower price with a lower-quality education.
The newer pricing strategies challenge that assumption. Carroll, for example, says its tuition reset won’t reduce academic programs, student services or other aspects of the student experience; the change is to its pricing model.
The sticker price is becoming less useful on its own
For families comparing colleges, these changes are another reminder that the advertised tuition price doesn’t necessarily reveal what a student will actually pay.
A private college advertising $50,000 in tuition but offering substantial institutional aid could ultimately cost a particular student less than a school with a much lower advertised price. Likewise, a college announcing a dramatic tuition reduction may also adjust its scholarships, meaning the family’s final savings could be much smaller than the headline percentage suggests.
The more useful number is the net price after grants and scholarships, along with housing, meals, fees, and other expenses that make up the actual cost of attending.
As more families question whether increasingly high college prices are worth it, some schools seem to be getting the message: sometimes a lower number on the price tag is enough to get families to take another look.
