Shopping for College Bargains

(MoneyWatch)  With the recession showing less movement than a clogged drain, cheap is chic in higher ed.
A new study that surveyed nearly 23,000 high school seniors gives a hint at the rampant price shopping that's been happening during the current admission season. Seventy two percent of the students in the survey said that they were more likely to consider a public college due to the economy.

It makes sense. Right? State schools sure seem cheaper. But this 2009 groupthink has led to something remarkably counterintuitive happening.

Petrified that teenagers are going to enroll in public schools in historic numbers, many private institutions have coughed up more money to compete for these 19-year-olds. For admission deans at private schools there doesn't seem to be much alternative. At 3 a.m., these guys are dreaming that the Biology 101 professor is going to be teaching to a roomful of empty desks in September.

What many kids, who are feeling parental pressure to stick with state schools, don't realize is that higher ed price tags are meaningless. Sometimes the state university will be as economical as a case of macaroni at the 99 Cent Store, but sometimes it won't. And that's even more true today with private schools playing let's make a deal.

At this point, high school seniors are done shopping. The deadline for tuition deposits for colleges and universities across the country is Friday.

But there is still time for other teenagers to resist jumping to conclusions when they are looking for colleges. Beware of groupthink. It might cost you dearly.

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Plunger image by Jude Pics, CC 2.0