Summary of Ron Lieber's The Price You Pay for College

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Ron Lieber's The Price You Pay for College in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: While price is essential, value is paramount. So what is worth paying extra for, and how do you know when it exists in abundance at any particular school? Is a small college better than a big one? Who actually does the teaching? Given that every college claims to have reinvented its career center, who should we actually believe? He asks the tough questions of college presidents and financial aid gatekeepers that parents don’t know (or are afraid) to ask and summarizes the research about what matters and what doesn’t.

Finally, Lieber calmly walks families through the process of setting financial goals, explaining the system to their children and figuring out the right ways to save, borrow, and bargain for a better deal.

The Price You Pay for College gives parents the clarity they need to make informed choices and helps restore the joy and wonder the college experience is supposed to represent.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Dec 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781669344315

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

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Insights on Ron Lieber's The Price You Pay for College

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The average discount that private colleges and universities offer their first-time, full-time students is 52. 6 percent.

#2

American families and the government spend $30,000 per year on the average undergraduate, including money they borrow. Still, $23,000 of it goes to pay for the core operation of teaching students and paying teachers.

#3

The second myth is that college costs too much. In reality, only a small percentage of college costs are due to actual educational materials and programs. The vast majority of college costs are due to non-academic factors, such as dorms, dining halls, and gyms.

#4

The rise in college costs is not due to increased spending on education, but rather on rising labor costs.

#5

The cost of higher education has skyrocketed over the years, and there’s not much states can do to stop it.

#6

The author met with a family in Portland, Oregon, who were planning on applying for financial aid for their senior who was going to college. The family had $120,000 saved, which would put them in good shape if both kids went to a state school.

#7

The EFC, or expected family contribution, is the amount the government believes your family can afford to contribute to your college costs. It uses your family’s income and assets to calculate it.

#8

The EFC is a complicated formula that determines how much money your family can contribute to the cost of higher education.

#9

The term family is used frequently in relation to financial aid, but the government expects families to contribute to the cost of college.

#10

There are two basic ways colleges determine financial aid: the FAFSA, which is for federal aid, and the CSS (College Scholarship Service) Profile, which is for private school aid.

#11

The author's family went through a similar exercise, and their conclusion was the same: the University of Chicago had the best financial aid package.

#12

The author's younger sister, who is a twin, also got a free ride to college, thanks to their parents' frugal habits.

#13

Many private colleges run their own numbers using the CSS Profile to figure out what