Tuition Rates in Universities - Free Essay Example

The aim of this analysis was to explore the tuition rate among 50 universities in New Jersey and New York, USA. I love statistics and examination of this variable not only expanded my knowledge in descriptive statistics but also was an eye opener to the tuition rates in American Universities. I believe that having knowledge of these tuition rates is very informative, especially with regards to finding affordable institutions of higher learning. It will inform my future decisions about the likely universities I can opt to advance my studies. Tuition rates in institutions of higher learning have been increasing in recent years in the United States. With scholarship opportunities limited and the burden of student loan repayment a stark possibility, it is a wise decision to look for cheaper colleges to complete my course. In-state tuition rates are cheaper than out-of-state rates which make the prospect of attending a university situated in the home state exciting. The source of data for my analysis is from a website called College Tuition Compare, which is a privately owned company providing college/university statistics. The information published on the website is based on the 2017 Tuition & College Costs Statistics.

Tuition rate is an important variable that allows prospective students to understand the university charges for both in-state and out-of-state students. Studies show that increase in university tuition fees is likely to influence the students' attitudes towards pursuing higher education. This suggests that many young people may now be considering alternatives to higher education to achieve their goals and indeed whether such qualifications are really required at all. For example, the National Foundation for Educational Research of the UK 's study on students' perceptions reported that learners could be uncomfortable about the large debts they are being asked to accumulate in order to take part in higher education. A possible explanation for this might be that the size of the sums of money involved leaves students feeling that saving additional money will make little difference.

The sampling technique used for the acquisition of raw data is systematic sampling. The criteria included the inclusion of only national universities. Systematic sampling is a type of probability sampling method whereby sample members from a larger population are selected according to a random starting point. The starting point in this analysis was universities within New Jersey.

The results show that the median tuition fee of the universities in the sample is $ 18,361.50 (half of the universities have tuition rates equal to or higher than this value and the other half have tuition rates equal to or lower than $ 18,361.50). Most universities have a tuition fee that is between $ 12,814 and $ 33650, but some universities have tuition rates that are as low as $ 7,300 and as high as $ 50,554. The most frequently charged fee is $ 21,225 (Mode = $ 21,225). Figure 1 shows that the tuition rates data is not normally distributed because of the presence of skewness. The boxplot has right-skewed data showing that most of the universities charge lower tuition fees and a few charge higher rates. Of all the universities, Thomas Edison State University Trenton, NJ had the lowest tuition rate ($7,300) while the Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ had the highest tuition rate ($50,554). The three universities with the highest tuition rates in 2017 included the Stevens Institute of Technology- Hoboken, NJ ($50,554), Drew University-Madison, NJ ($49,468), and New York University-New York, NY ($49,062). Some of the other universities occupying the top tuition fee quartile include Princeton University Princeton, NJ ($47,140), Fairleigh Dickinson University-College at Florham Madison, NJ ($41,780), and Fairleigh Dickinson University-Metropolitan Campus Teaneck, NJ ($39,446). The university closest to the Mean (23919.5) is the Berkeley College-Woodland Park Woodland Park, NJ ($25,300). Talmudical -New Jersey Adelphia, NJ with the tuition fee of $ $13,300 cuts off the bottom 25% of the data. Other universities in the bottom 25% are New Jersey City University Jersey City, NJ ($11,761), University of Phoenix-New Jersey Jersey City, NJ ($9,960), and Kean University Union, NJ ($12,107) among others.

Georgian Court University-Lakewood, NJ ($31,618), Kean University-Union, NJ ($12,107), Monmouth University-West Long Branch, NJ ($35,364), and Stockton University ($13,404) include some of the best choices to study education and social work in New Jersey. Georgian Court University-Lakewood, NJ, Kean University-Union, NJ, Monmouth University-West Long Branch, NJ, and Stockton University are the best choices for my programs of interest i.e. the education and the social worker's program. In addition, it is easy to commute to the universities. Out of these four universities, Kean University is the Cheapest by location, but only has the education program not the social worker program. Stockton University is close to the cheapest and has both the education and the social workers program. Stockton University would be the more likely pick because of cost and location and Kean University would be the closest and cheapest.

This project has taught me how to use descriptive statistics (measures of central tendency) to synthesize large data for easier interpretation. Both the descriptive values and the graphical representation via the boxplot made my interpretation of the data easier. I could immediately check the distribution of the data in the box plot and decided that because of the skewed data, the Empirical Rule does not apply, but Chebyshev's Rule does on the data. The best deals of tuition fees is for in-state residents rather than the out-of-state students.

Appendix A

Source: College Tuition Compare, URL: https://www.collegetuitioncompare.com/compare/tables/?state=NJ&degree=Undergraduate&level=4-year%20or%20HighColleges and Universities (Alphabetically)

No College/University Tuition fees

1 Bais Medrash Toras Chesed Lakewood, NJ $9,500

2 Berkeley College-Woodland Park Woodland Park, NJ $25,300

3 Beth Medrash Govoha Lakewood, NJ $20,788

4 Bloomfield College Bloomfield, NJ $29,300

5 Caldwell University Caldwell, NJ $33,950

6 Centenary College Hackettstown, NJ $32,580

7 Chamberlain College of Nursing-New Jersey North Brunswick, NJ $19,375

8 College of Saint Elizabeth Morristown, NJ $33,131

9 DeVry University-New Jersey North Brunswick, NJ $17,348

10 Drew University Madison, NJ $49,468

11 Eastern International College-Belleville Belleville, NJ $21,225

12 Eastern International College-Jersey City Jersey City, NJ $21,225

13 Eastwick College-Ramsey Ramsey, NJ $16,252

14 Fairleigh Dickinson University-College at Florham Madison, NJ $41,780

15 Fairleigh Dickinson University-Metropolitan Campus Teaneck, NJ $39,446

16 Felician University Lodi, NJ $33,650

17 Fordham University Bronx, NY $48,688

18 Georgian Court University Lakewood, NJ $32,260

19 Ithaca College Ithaca, NY $41,776

20 Kean University Union, NJ $12,107

21 Monmouth University West Long Branch, NJ $36,732

22 Montclair State University Montclair, NJ $12,455

23 New Jersey City University Jersey City, NJ $11,761

24 New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ $16,898

25 New York University New York, NY $49,062

26 Pillar College Newark, NJ $21,076

27 Princeton University Princeton, NJ $47,140

28 Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Edison, NJ $11,900

29 Rabbinical College of America Morristown, NJ $11,100

30 Ramapo College of New Jersey Mahwah, NJ $14,080

31 Rider University Lawrenceville, NJ $41,310

32 Rowan University Glassboro, NJ $13,422

33 Rutgers University-Camden Camden, NJ $14,501

34 Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ $14,638

35 Rutgers University-Newark Newark, NJ $14,085

36 Saint Peter's University Jersey City, NJ $36,402

37 Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ $40,588

38 St. Thomas Aquinas College $29,600

39 Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ $50,554

40 Stockton University Galloway, NJ $13,404

41 Strayer University-New Jersey-Cherry Hill, NJ $13,857

42 Talmudical Academy-New Jersey Adelphia, NJ $13,300

43 The College of New Jersey Ewing, NJ $16,149

44 Thomas Edison State University Trenton, NJ $7,300

45 University of Phoenix-New Jersey Jersey City, NJ $9,960

46 William Paterson University of New Jersey Wayne, NJ $12,652

47 Yeshiva Gedolah Zichron Leyma Linden, NJ $9,000

48 Yeshiva Toras Chaim Lakewood, NJ $12,250

49 Yeshiva Yesodei Hatorah Lakewood, NJ $11,000

50 Yeshivas Be'er Yitzchok Elizabeth, NJ $10,650

Colleges and Universities from the most expensive to the list

No National University Rank Tuition fees

1 Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ $50,554

2 Drew University Madison, NJ $49,468

3 New York University New York, NY $49,062

4 Fordham University Bronx, NY $48,688

5 Princeton University Princeton, NJ $47,140

6 Fairleigh Dickinson University-College at Florham Madison, NJ $41,780

7 Ithaca College Ithaca, NY $41,776

8 Rider University Lawrenceville, NJ $41,310

9 Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ $40,588

10 Fairleigh Dickinson University-Metropolitan Campus Teaneck, NJ $39,446

11 Monmouth University West Long Branch, NJ $36,732

12 Saint Peter's University Jersey City, NJ $36,402

13 Caldwell University Caldwell, NJ $33,950

14 Felician University Lodi, NJ $33,650

15 College of Saint Elizabeth Morristown, NJ $33,131

16 Centenary College Hackettstown, NJ $32,580

17 Georgian Court University Lakewood, NJ $32,260

18 St. Thomas Aquinas College $29,600

19 Bloomfield College Bloomfield, NJ $29,300

20 Berkeley College-Woodland Park Woodland Park, NJ $25,300

21 Eastern International College-Jersey City Jersey City, NJ $21,225

22 Eastern International College-Belleville Belleville, NJ $21,225

23 Pillar College Newark, NJ $21,076

24 Beth Medrash Govoha Lakewood, NJ $20,788

25 Chamberlain College of Nursing-New Jersey North Brunswick, NJ $19,375

26 DeVry University-New Jersey North Brunswick, NJ $17,348

27 New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ $16,898

28 Eastwick College-Ramsey Ramsey, NJ $16,252

29 The College of New Jersey Ewing, NJ $16,149

30 Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ $14,638

31 Rutgers University-Camden Camden, NJ $14,501

32 Rutgers University-Newark Newark, NJ $14,085

33 Ramapo College of New Jersey Mahwah, NJ $14,080

34 Strayer University-New Jersey-Cherry Hill, NJ $13,857

35 Rowan University Glassboro, NJ $13,422

36 Stockton University Galloway, NJ $13,404

37 Talmudical Academy-New Jersey Adelphia, NJ $13,300

38 William Paterson University of New Jersey Wayne, NJ $12,652

39 Montclair State University Montclair, NJ $12,455

40 Yeshiva Toras Chaim Lakewood, NJ $12,250

41 Kean University Union, NJ $12,107

42 Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Edison, NJ $11,900

43 New Jersey City University Jersey City, NJ $11,761

44 Rabbinical College of America Morristown, NJ $11,100

45 Yeshiva Yesodei Hatorah Lakewood, NJ $11,000

46 Yeshivas Be'er Yitzchok Elizabeth, NJ $10,650

47 University of Phoenix-New Jersey Jersey City, NJ $9,960

48 Bais Medrash Toras Chesed Lakewood, NJ $9,500

49 Yeshiva Gedolah Zichron Leyma Linden, NJ $9,000

50 Thomas Edison State University Trenton, NJ $7,300

Descriptive Statistics

Column1

Mean 23919.5

Median 18361.5

Mode 21225

Standard Deviation 13337.97262

Minimum 7300

Maximum 50554

1st Quartile 12814

3rd Quartile 33650

Figure 1. Tuition rates in universities