Private colleges in Iowa have been cutting their tuition costs in an effort to retain students. Graceland College in Lamoni is the latest, with president Pat Draves making the announcement Tuesday. “I am delighted to announce that we are adjusting the Graceland University tuition from 32,500 to 19,500 dollars starting in the fall of 2024,” she says.
She says cost has become one of the biggest factors for students in selecting a school. “A report released in August called ‘How Americans Pay for College,” shared that in the U.S., 73% of students will not even consider researching or applying for a college based on its cost.”
Graves says that left them without the chance to even discuss what they had to offer. “Graceland’s new price with our simplified scholarship and financial aid process puts Graceland back into the conversation with prospective students and their families about the outstanding opportunities that happen here in Lamoni, Iowa,” she says.
Wartburg College in Waverly recently announced it was reducing its published tuition price by more than 45% to $25,000. Wartburg president, Rebecca Ehretsman says that is part of an overall plan. “So in addition to creating a competitive price point, we also built a program that will help our students who receive the Iowa Tuition grants, when added to their federal funding, as well as scholarships from the college, we will totally cover the cost of their tuition,” Ehretsman says.
Wartburg also offers students what they call the “Knights Experience Fund. ” “And this is an up to $1,500 disbursement. So they can engage in experiential learning at Wartburg College,” she says. “This could include study away research, internships, service trips, any of those things that we know, make a Wartburg College education distinct.”
Ehretsman says scholarships and other programs sometimes don’t get figured in when students are searching for a school. “The interesting thing is that most people don’t understand that the sticker price on colleges is not typically what our families pay,” she says. “And so, we are just trying to bring that sticker price down so it’s more commensurate with what our families are actually paying the college.”
Ehretsman says that is even more important with the nationwide drop in college students after the pandemic. “Not only did students leave college during the pandemic, but also now fewer students are choosing to initiate a four-year undergraduate education. And so, you know, those are barriers that we are dealing with,” she says. Wartburg has an enrollment of around 1,500 students.