Is the dream of cheaper college finally back in sight? At least 5 schools slash tuition by as much as $29,000 — why fewer teens seek out campus life

Meanwhile, Concordia University, St. Paul, which last cut prices in 2013, has shaved another $5,500 off its fall 2027 tuition.

“We just knew that we couldn’t be a school with a price tag of $40,000 and attract students, particularly those in the socioeconomic groups that are in our region,” Emory & Henry University President Lou Fincher told Bloomberg. “We couldn’t continue on that same path.”

High costs and an uncertain reward

The ‘sticker price’ of colleges has been escalating for some time. Since 1963, the average annual tuition costs at a public college have gone up 40-fold, according to a 2025 report from the Education Data Initiative. That works out to a 312% increase after inflation is accounted for. Private colleges, which typically have higher costs, are nearly 35 times as expensive as they were in 1963.

The average cost of in-state tuition at a public, four-year institution was $11,950 during the 2025-26 school year, according to exam administrator College Board. Out-of-state students pay an average of $31,880. Private schools charged an average of $45,000.

And as wages stagnate across the U.S., college-aged students are questioning the value of a bachelor’s degree. A 2024 study from Pew Research found 29% of U.S. adults felt the cost of college was not worth the advantages you get from graduating. Just 22% said it was worth it if students needed to take out loans.

Compounding that perception problem for colleges and universities, the number of students graduating from high school is falling as well, for demographic reasons, lowering the competitive field for applicants.

Cutting costs

Even with the lower tuition prices at these schools, students are likely to pay even less. The majority of students at private, nonprofit universities receive either discounted tuition or financial aid in the form of scholarships. More than 57% of first-year undergraduates see some sort of discount on the posted tuition, and 51% of all undergraduates see a discount rate in tuition, the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) finds.

Lower costs aren’t a guarantee that students will flood a school with applications, however. As concerns over artificial intelligence continue to grow, pessimism is escalating among Generation Z. Northwestern Mutual’s 2026 Planning & Progress Study found nearly half (46%) of the people in that age group said they had concerns “about the potential impact of artificial intelligence on their careers – raising new questions about income stability and long-term earning power.”