Cornell College offers thousands clarity on true cost to attend next fall

MOUNT VERNON — An annual tuition-and-fees rate topping $54,000 can scare away anyone shopping for a higher education home — driving a growing swath of private colleges and universities to seek methods for mitigating the financial fear factor.

Cornell College is the latest Iowa institution to take a stab at defanging its $54,776 tuition-and-fees tally by instituting a new “Save Your Seat” program, which this week proactively sent 19,357 prospective students “personalized financial aid estimates.”

The estimates — which are clearly marked as such — were sent to 16,000 email addresses and nearly 20,000 mailboxes nationwide via postcards with personalized QR codes listing institutional, federal, and state aid estimates.

“It goes to students that are in our inquiry pool — if someone has raised their hand and said, ‘I'm really interested in Cornell,’ and they're in our database for emails or text messages,” Wendy Beckemeyer, Cornell’s vice president for enrollment management, told The Gazette.

An outside vendor created the Cornell estimates using Department of Education calculations, a historical analysis of decades of aid packages distributed to students, and the college’s guaranteed merit scholarships.

Among those is Cornell’s “National Academic Award,” granting at least $33,000 to all first-year, full-time students living on campus who are from any U.S. state other than Iowa. Cornell’s “Iowa Promise Scholarship” similarly offers $35,000 to $37,000 to first-year full-time residential students from Iowa.

And Cornell offers that same Iowa Promise deal to residents of Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin — along with $33,000 to $37,000 to all international students — effectively cutting tuition rates for all students by more than half.

“The sticker price, as many people refer to it, can be a deterrent because maybe they've never had a family member or sibling or someone that they know go through the college decision process, and so they're not familiar with the fact that they'll be applying for aid — that they might be eligible for a scholarship,” Beckemeyer said. “And so this helps with financial literacy, in terms of understanding that at a private institution, there are many sources of financial aid that may make it more possible to attend.”

Tuition reset

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Many private colleges and universities in Iowa, like Cornell, offer aid to 100 percent of students.

First-time, full-time undergraduates at Cornell averaged $38,486 in grants in the 2022-23 academic year, according to the most recent data available through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.

Also awarding 100 percent of their students some form of aid, Cedar Rapids’ Coe College that year averaged $43,772 in grants per first-year, full-time undergraduate; and nearby Mount Mercy averaged $28,628 in grants.

At Cornell, the near automatic financial aid brought down the average net price to attend — including tuition, fees, books, supplies, room, and board — to $25,850 in the 2022-23 academic year, according to IPEDS. That was on par with Iowa’s public universities, reporting a $24,048 average resident undergraduate price to attend.

Other private institutions in Iowa have addressed the scary sticker price situation with a “tuition reset” — dramatically dropping their published tuition rates and reconfiguring aid offerings to make the institution appear more affordable from the outset.

Wartburg College last fall cut its published tuition and fees in half — from $51,040 to $26,250 — bringing “the overall cost closer to what students typically pay.”

Central College and Graceland Universities have taken similar steps to slash their respective sticker prices.

“Some of them are still offering merit scholarships, but the value of those are lower because their price is lower,” Beckemeyer said of the tuition-reset route, which Cornell so far has opted not to take.

“I do think that the larger merit scholarships still have great meaning to families and to students,” she said, characterizing them as a “confidence builder.”

“That has meaning in our society,” she said. “And we don't want to take that off the table for parents and students.”

Hence Cornell’s aid estimation tactic.

“What we're really trying to help with is transparency and getting people excited about college,” Beckemeyer said.

‘It all adds up’

Cornell’s mailed aid estimates breakdown by institutional, state, and federal assistance.

“Additional scholarships, awards, and grants from Cornell are also possible based on a student’s unique situation,” said Cornell Financial Aid Director Beth Davenport. “In addition, most U.S. residents are also eligible for federal student aid when they file the FAFSA, and students who live in Iowa may qualify for an additional Iowa Tuition Grant.

“It all adds up to make college affordable.”

And Cornell’s new “Save Your Seat” program does more than provide potential students clarity on what they might actually pay once aid is added in. It also literally saves them a seat for fall 2026 if they apply and submit an enrollment deposit by Sept. 1.

“You’ll receive a guaranteed institutional scholarship and aid package — months before your FAFSA results,” according to the aid estimate email sent to tens of thousands this week. “Plus, enjoy priority housing selection.”

Students who wait until Nov. 8 still can receive that guarantee. And anyone who visits campus before that date gets an extra $500.

“High sticker prices and horror stories about students accumulating huge college debt loads have created a narrative that questions whether college is affordable,” Beckemeyer said. “With Save Your Seat, we are striving to be fully transparent with families about the numbers.

“When the numbers are spelled out clearly, they’re often surprised that the education they were hoping for — one that will empower their student for a lifetime of career success — is within reach.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com