Parents in sticker-shock over the price of a private education will get a guarantee starting next year from Randolph-Macon College.
The Ashland college announced this week it will waive tuition costs for any additional courses needed to complete a degree if a student isn't able to graduate in four years, provided certain requirements are met.
With 95 percent of its students who graduate doing so in four years, R-MC President Robert R. Lindgren acknowledges that it's something of a low-risk guarantee for the college.
But the guarantee seeks to address parents' concerns about the rising costs of higher education, he said. While public schools charge far less, their four-year graduation rate is below 50 percent.
The additional time it may take to complete a degree is "an important part of the equation" that families should look at when they consider costs, he said.
Tuition at the liberal arts and sciences college this year is $29,788. With mandatory fees and room and board, the annual cost is $39,934. Lindgren said he anticipates a tuition increase for next year.
The guarantee is not a new idea. Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk has offered a similar four-year degree guarantee for 14 years, as do some other private schools around the country.
But college completion rates are getting more scrutiny nationally as costs escalate. In Virginia, it's been one focus of Gov. Bob McDonnell's higher-education reform commission, on which Lindgren serves.
The four-year written guarantee will be offered to freshmen entering R-MC in the fall. To qualify, they must meet academic course and GPA requirements and meet regularly with their advisers.
R-MC freshmen have academic advisers who are also their professors, he said. So if the advisers sense a problem, "they're not tracking down a student all over campus if they need to talk to them."
He credits that individualized attention for R-MC's graduation rate that exceeds the average four-year completion rate for other private schools. "We tend to know what each and every one needs in order to get there," he said.
According to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the four-year completion rate for private colleges is 79 percent nationally, compared with 49 percent for state universities. The average holds true for students regardless of their economic background or academic preparation for college, the association says.
Part of the reason is that students at large universities often have trouble getting into courses they need to graduate.
That's not a problem for small schools such as R-MC, which expects to have 250 graduates this year, Lindgren said. He cites a recent semester when a science course was added after the registrar noticed that several seniors would need it to graduate.
"It emphasizes one of the great advantages of a small liberal arts college," Robert B. Lambeth, president of the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia, said of the guarantee.
kkapsidelis@timesdispatch.com
(804) 649-6119
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement