This week in college admissions, the cost of tuition at many colleges tops $100,000, Bard College names an acting president, the president of Penn announces plans to step down, and the Education Department prepares to release the results of the controversial ACTS survey.
For the 2026-27 school year, 16 schools—including Duke, NYU, and Georgetown—have a sticker price of or above $100,000. Although schools with the highest cost often offer the most generous financial aid packages—with tuition discounts as big as 57%—the rising costs at private schools are still contributing to a shift towards four-year public colleges and community colleges.
In the wake of Bard College President Leon Botstein’s resignation due to information linking him with the Epstein files, Bard has named a new acting president. Jonathan Becker, formerly the executive vice president and vice president for academic affairs, will work with the Bard Board of Trustees as they search for an interim president and then a permanent president.
The University of Pennsylvania will also be searching for a new president to replace Larry Jameson, the interim president since December 2023, who announced his plan to resign as of June 2027.
The Education Department has announced that later this year, it will reveal the results of the ACTS (Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement) survey, which has the stated purpose of “exposing” possible evidence of race-based admissions preferences. Many experts worry that the data collected does not adequately capture individual applicants’ complexity and context and will limit schools’ ability to determine their own institutional priorities.
Leave a Reply