by Guy-Michael Homa

Created on: November 12, 2009

Relationship of College Tuition and Enrollment

What do you consider as the most influential factors when deciding on which college to attend? Does tuition cost play a huge part in your choice of college? The choice of school can often be a struggle between affordability and quality.

We want to receive the best education that is affordable without sacrificing quality. Perhaps your choice of college is influenced by the scope of financial aide programs available and how much a school will provide financial assistance to students.

Research shows a relationship between student enrollment and financial aid programs offered among colleges. Many leading U.S. colleges are currently offering more financial aid options to students than ever before. They all offer quality degree programs, but they need to be creative for attracting more students by removing financial roadblocks that may discourage enrollment. Current economic challenges and rising costs of education are the motivation behind improved financial assistance to students. By offering more financial aid options, colleges hope to maintain or increase student enrollment.

Harvard University ranked as the nation's top college of 2009, offering more financial aid assistance than in previous years. Harvard, like other colleges, strives to remove economic barriers of receiving a college education. There are more financial aid and scholarship options for students now than in recent years. Approximately 70% of Harvard students now receive some form of financial aid. Although Harvard is promoting increased aid to students, you must take into consideration the rate of enrollment. In the 2007-2008 school term, 25,690 students attended Harvard University and in comparison to enrollment of similar colleges, Harvard's enrollment is relatively small.

Another top school in the nation is the University of California Berkeley. The rate of enrollment for the 2007-2008 school term was 34,940 students. Berkeley offers many types of financial aid including a scholarship that they award to 2,500 students per year based on their financial need and academic excellence. The rate of enrollment at Berkeley is significantly larger than at Harvard University, which may prove that Berkeley is offering more aid to their students.

Rice University in Houston, Texas is another school of many offering a great financial aid program. Their program is similar to Harvard's initiative plan where they offer to pay 30% of the incoming freshman class

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