Heaven forbid they just lower tuition.

[dfrecore]

I bet you that, on average, Ashford and National University students graduate with more debt. Yale is extremely expensive, but the average student loan debt is less than $15k. People need to stop looking at sticker prices and start looking at the amount of non-loan aid that is available. For-profits tend to not offer many grants and scholarships. Sometimes, it's cheaper to attend the more expensive school.

This is true.  The ivy leagues schools all have free tuition for people making less than a certain amount (1 is capped at $40k, 4 are capped at $60k, 2 are caped at $65k, and Stanford is capped at $125k).  Then, most offer reduced amounts if you make between that and another higher amount.  http://www.businessinsider.com/congrats-...-it-2015-4

I have friends sending their kids to private Christian colleges, with very high price tags - but with scholarships and work study, one is paying $12k ($23k rack rate) and one is paying $22k ($44k rack rate) and this includes room and board.  In-state tuition, room and board at a CSU would cost about $25k and UC is about $30k.

I've been to encouraging everyone I know whose kid is considering a CSU/UC school to look at private universities, to see what kind of "deal" they can get there.  It can't hurt to apply, and if 50% is the going rate, then they may be able to better afford a private school than a state school.  Crazy, but true.