SAYING 'NO THANKS' TO THE IVY LEAGUE

by Robert Tomsho

Lucas Puente has been accepted at Stanford, Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania. But to attend any one of the prestigious universities would cost a total of about $48,000 a year, and he wouldn't qualify for need-based aid.

The University of Georgia, meanwhile, has offered him a Foundation Fellowship, which would cover not only his out-of-state tuition of $16,000, but also other costs. Total value of the package over four years: roughly $125,000.

"It's every student's dream to go to a school like Stanford," says Mr. Puente, 17 years old, of Wilmington, N.C. But he's leaning toward going to Georgia. "With everything they offer, no other school can really match that," he says.

More middle- and upper-income families are in a similar bind – trying to assess the value of a degree from a top-tier school. Even as the price of attending an elite college approaches $50,000 a year, less-prestigious schools are offering more merit aid, making the cost differences starker. Nationwide, $7.3 billion in merit scholarships was awarded in 2003-2004, up from $1.2 billion in 1993-1994, according to the latest data available from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. And college officials say the trend is growing.

At some schools that are well-regarded, though not Ivy League, the discounts can be hefty. At Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, N.Y., which costs about $40,000 a year, about a quarter of last fall's freshman class of 1,250 received merit scholarships averaging about $15,000 each. About 45% of the students at Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, receive merit-aid packages of up to $25,000 a year.

Such offers have great appeal to the many families that are not eligible for need-based aid – the only kind offered by Ivy League colleges – but are squeezed by current prices. But are families making a blunder if they don't choose the most prestigious university they can get their child into, regardless of cost?

The latest evidence suggests high-achieving students are likely to thrive wherever they go. "How College Affects Students," a 2005 book that reviewed three decades of related research, found that a university's prestige and selectivity had little consistent impact on teaching quality, student learning and other factors. "'Hard to get into' doesn't mean you are going to get a better education," says co-author Ernest Pascarella, an education professor at the University of Iowa.

To be sure, elite universities have been moving lately to offer more need-based aid. Harvard, for instance, recently announced that it will no longer require parents who earn less than $60,000 a year to contribute to their children's college costs. Stanford and the University of Pennsylvania have similar free-ride programs, although their earnings ceilings are set at $45,000 and $50,000, respectively. Overall in higher education, the trend in financial aid has been toward more loans and fewer grants.

It's also hard to assess the full value of attending a particular college, when factors such as the quality of the education and earning potential are factored in. One 1999 study compared the earnings of graduates of elite schools like Princeton and Yale universities with those of students who had been accepted by such schools but chose less-selective institutions such as Tulane University and the University of North Carolina. It found no substantial difference, says Stacy Berg Dale, a researcher with Mathematica Policy Research Inc., a consulting concern, who conducted the study with Alan Krueger, a Princeton economist.

Some studies have found that elite-school graduates earn more, but "it's very difficult to determine how much is due to them and how much is value added" by their undergraduate education, says Caroline Hoxby, a Harvard University economics professor.

The temptation for higher achievers to look beyond elite colleges is being fueled by the merit scholarships being offered elsewhere. Such grants – awarded not only for good grades and high scores but also for special talents or qualities such as leadership – are growing faster than grants based on need as colleges try to lure bright students. Merit grants made by public four year colleges, rose to 62% of the total in 2003-2004 from 45% a decade earlier, while merit grants from private colleges went up to 50% from 33%.

Such savings appeal to Amy Liu, a senior at North Canton High School, in North Canton, Ohio. Her parents saved enough to send her to Duke or Cornell, which both accepted her but offered no aid, but she is leaning toward Rice University, in Houston, which has offered $13,500 in merit aid and $2,000 in annual research stipends. The annual cost of attending Rice is about $35,000. "I don't want to spend all of my parents' money on undergraduate school," says Ms. Liu, who hopes to become a doctor. "I feel like I will get a good education wherever I go."

A merit-aid offer from one college is unlikely to persuade a more elite school to sweeten its package, but it never hurts to ask politely. For its part, Carnegie Mellon University encourages prospective students to let it review competing offers from other schools.

But most observers say that finding a university that is a good fit for the individual student is more important than cost and prestige. Factors to consider, they say, include whether the research specialties of individual professors align with the student's academic interests. "Pay for a school like Harvard because it's the right place for your child but not because you suspect it will give greater returns," says Mark Sklarow, executive director of the Independent Educational Consultants Association.

Still, some educators and advisers maintain that, with their alumni networks, high-powered faculty and top-tier students, elite universities are still the way to go whenever possible. "It's worth it to go to the best school you can get into because people judge you by where you went," says Michele Hernandez, an admissions consultant in Lake Oswego, Ore.

Abridged from The Wall Street Journal On Line

3.b Explain the following concepts from the text.

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