WARTBURG REACTS TO CENTRAL COLLEGE TUITION DECREASE

ALEXA GANZEVELD, TRUMPET KNIGHTLIFE EDITOR, KV NEWS ANCHOR

On September 10, Central College announced a new annual tuition of $18,000 for next fall. This tuition change is the first of its kind in Iowa, although it is already occurring in colleges across the country.

When including room and board with Central’s new tuition price, the private college’s price is now equivalent to each of Iowa’s public universities.

READ ALSO: TUITION INCREASE RAISES CONCERN

According to Central College President Mark Putnam, “Central views it as our responsibility to help bring rationality to the price of a high-quality college education. Central’s new tuition and financial aid pricing is clearer and easier to understand. It’s an important commitment to our students, families, alumni, and donors.”

At Wartburg College, the sticker price, or advertised price is $39,730 while students may pay a little under or over the average amount, $22,976.

“We try to do a pretty sophisticated and deep analysis of our financial aid matrix as we call it, our financial aid awarding plan,” Edith Waldstein, vice president for enrollment management at Wartburg College. “We review that every year and we adjust it going into the next year based on the tuition that has been set by the Board of Regents, by the budget that we think we will need, by the number of students that we want to recruit in order to meet that budget, and so on.”

“It is tweaking it here and there. It’s not big changes like Central just did.”

—EDITH WALDSTEIN, VICE PRESIDENT FOR ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT

The college’s sticker price was rarely ever paid by students due to the high amount of scholarships and financial aid awarded, according to central.edu. In comparison to Wartburg’s sticker price, $39,730, Central is now approximately $23,000 cheaper.

Students at Wartburg may pay a little under or over the net price of $22,976, according to wartburg.edu. “We make adjustments to our financial aid awarding program every year,” Waldstein said. “It is incremental in nature. It is tweaking it here and there. It’s not big changes like Central just did.” For more information on Wartburg’s financial aid, go to wartburg.edu/financial-aid/.