With Americans again struggling to repay $1.6 trillion in student debt (second only to mortgage debt), high school seniors (and their parents) are becoming increasingly price sensitive in their college search. For private colleges that have long relied on a combination of high sticker prices, offset by big financial aid packages, this could be a problem.
In a new survey of current high school seniors registered on the Niche.com college search and review site, 89% said a school’s published price would affect the likelihood they’ll apply or inquire about that school, up from 76% of last year’s seniors who said this. (While the survey is a self-selected sample, it’s a large one, with 24,000 teens completing the survey this year.)
Even more dramatic: 59% of the 89% who described themselves as price sensitive—in other words, 53% of all seniors—said they flat out wouldn’t consider a school that costs more than $40,000 per year in total. Private colleges, on average, charged $41,540 in tuition alone for the 2023-24 academic year, up 4% from the year before, per the latest numbers from the College Board. Concern about prices goes along with growing doubts among Niche users that they’ll be able to pay for college—fewer than a quarter now say they’re confident they can afford college.