Colleges are catching on to what car dealerships and mortgage companies already know.
And the concept is simple. Freeze the price, the interest rate or the payments.
Indiana Business College will freeze tuition rates for students who stay in school. If you drop out of school, you can’t join back up at the same price you originally locked in. If you continually go to school full or part time in the program, your tuition will not increase. Period.
You save money; they increase enrollments and lower dropout rates.
Wow. Imagine the money students and parents could save. Tuition at Ball State University was $4,320 in 2002 for a full course load. This year it’s $6,360. Add on top fees, room, board and books.
Ball State students on the four-year plan would have saved $8,160 if their tuition would have been frozen over that time.
Few colleges around the nation have picked up on this plan. Madison County is lucky to have one right here.
A full-time student at Indiana Business College pays $3,000 per quarter, so costs mount up pretty quickly. The college is set up so students go year round for 18 months. No summers off there. Because of the compressed time frame, it does reduce the risk to the school that prices will soar in that period.
Perhaps four-year colleges can cap tuition increases if they can’t freeze them outright.
More schools need to get aboard. Huntington University has a similar program, as do bigger schools, such as Oklahoma City University. If a student is enrolled and debating whether to sit out a semester or two, this program would keep them going part-time and keep them on track toward graduation and getting out into the work force.
There are no fees for the program. It’s as simple as signing up and staying in school.
“Everyone is eligible,” said Billie Ervin, certified financial aid analyst for IBC. “As long as they have continuous enrollment.”
College is becoming a necessity, not a luxury. Kudos to IBC for making it a little easier for students to land a degree.
Freezing is an excellent idea and in this world of ever-increasing costs everywhere else, we strongly encourage more colleges to take a look at this program. It would not only be a great benefit to students but a great lure for students. It’s a way to put students first.
Now if only we could figure out a way to freeze gas prices.
