What Is Sticker Price?

3a. Sticker price is the list-price of higher education tuition set (and published) by the institution to meet needs and survive. Sticker price is the upper bound that institutions charge students and will at least be the amount that it costs for a student to be educated. It also includes government and private subsidies, average student institutional- and externally-funded student grants and possible excess from the college. Net price is the sticker price, minus discounts and grants. Net price is what the student actually pays (Archibald & Feldman, 2011; Weisbrod, Ballou, & Asch, 2008). Price discounts are subsidies provided by an institution to craft a class (at the elite level) and to complete for students (at the public level). Price discounts may be communicated to students as scholarships, grants, or tuition waivers. Subsidies also come in the form of more

Subsequent research on college choice extends and refines the foundational analyses of classic courses like Heller and McDonough by looking at additional aspects of student choice. Mitchell Stevens (2007) explored how colleges sell their school to applicants by accentuating its positive traits and appealing to emotions to show students how they “fit” into their campus. Lois Weis (in press) studied how students are in competition for distinction to maintain, if not improve, their class. As the pool of qualified students has increased, it is becoming much more difficult to raise the bar to find the “best” student. Students must go above and beyond traditional means of portraying themselves as attractive to colleges. Andrew Belasco and Michael Trivette (2013) look at the concept of undermatch. Undermatch is the concept that a student could have attended a higher quality college, but chose not to due to price, location, or admissibility. Some students may have chosen not to apply to the institution, or the institution may have chosen to not accept the student (Belasco and Trivette,