Going against the general trend, Alaska Pacific University has cut down its tuition by more than 30 percent to attract students and improve its admission rate and make education more affordable.
The lowered tuition rate for undergraduates will now cost $19,950 from the previous $29,600, a reduction of nearly $10,000 or 34 percent per year. The proposed changes will be implemented beginning of fall 2014.
"Affordability is the number one issue in higher education today. There's a lot of talk about student debt and questioning the value of a higher education," University President Don Bantz said. "We're trying to make private, quality, liberal arts education affordable for Alaskans. And the $29,000 sticker price turned a lot of people off. They didn't even wanna go any further."
The university converted the already sweet deal into a bumper one by offering undergraduates, a $3,000 travel scholarship when they attain junior status, which can be used to study abroad.
The university is hopeful of making up for lost revenue through other university income, endowments and land holdings (175 acres).
"We've invested wisely in leases and buildings which we draw significant income from," Bantz said.
In the past few years, the university was offering discounts to its students in a bid to help them out with the tuition and fee.
Tuition at the University of Alaska Anchorage is estimated to be more economical with $4,000 for Alaska residents and $14,000 for out-of-state students.
Although the university plans to increase its enrollments, it still wants the class size to be small.
First-time undergraduates out of high school comprise of only about 150 of the university's approximate 600 undergraduate and graduate students. The remaining students make up for high school seniors in an early honors program, transfer students, professionals and graduate students.
Last year, the incoming class of first-time freshman constituted only of 28 students. Bantz expects reduced tuition to add 50-100 traditional undergraduates, next academic year.
