Is this tuition typical (Northwestern)?

[eggfish]

I visited Northwestern U yesterday and was impressed so I looked up the tuition.  $15,190/quarter.  There are 8 quarters total.  So, $121,520 total.  Is that normal? Is this considered very expensive? Just out of curiosity, what is the most you plan on paying for grad school?  

 

(Northwestern is in my home state, by the way, but there is no such thing as in-state tuition at this school)

[Academicat]

I wouldn't be able to go to grad school if I didn't get departmental funding. I can't imagine paying that kind of money out of pocket or acruing that much debt unless the field were an especially lucrative one. Because jobs are so scarce in my field (English), out of a sense of ethics, many departments only admit students if they can afford to give them an assistantship with a tuition waiver. Have you considered applying for programs that offer assistantships so you don't saddle yourself with debt?

[eggfish]

I wouldn't be able to go to grad school if I didn't get departmental funding. I can't imagine paying that kind of money out of pocket or acruing that much debt unless the field were an especially lucrative one. Because jobs are so scarce in my field (English), out of a sense of ethics, many departments only admit students if they can afford to give them an assistantship with a tuition waiver. Have you considered applying for programs that offer assistantships so you don't saddle yourself with debt?

Isn't it difficult to get funding?  I never applied for scholarships for undergrad because the military paid every cent, so I don't really know anything about the process. 

[Academicat]

I don't know how it is in your field, so I can't say. In my field, I know very few people who did graduate school unfunded. It's just not worth it if you don't have funding.

[CBG321]

That is outrageously expensive.  How do they justify the costs?  Twice as much as the most expensive private school's i've looked into and 5 times as expensive as state programs.  I don't think that expense is worth it based on the pay in this profession even if you do go into the highest paying sector.  Just my opinion but I can't even imagine finding loans for that amount, it isn't law school (where those prices are normal haha).

[Vene]

I don't know how it is in your field, so I can't say. In my field, I know very few people who did graduate school unfunded. It's just not worth it if you don't have funding.

SLP is professional school, like medical, business, and law school. It follows different norms than most programs discussed here.

[Yancey]

Northwestern is one of the most expensive schools in our field. Around 50-100,000 is typical for a private school excluding any type of funding. In-state schools are cheaper, but can differ depending on state. People can end up paying a lot for school since competition is intense, schools have so many spots, and students have preferences (prefer private or public school, certain professor to work with, classes, location, etc). If you do plan on applying to private schools I'd recommend ones that give funding and/or assistantships. The price of tuition can be compounded by the cost of living and sometimes the debt is just not worth it depending on what you value.

[debster]

From our research, Northwestern is about the most expensive in the country, and they don't give tremendously high assistantships/scholarships.  My daughter is attending Vanderbilt, which is also private, but much less expensive, and they do give several part-scholarships, based on merit.  We will be paying a similar amount to a public, state university.

[jpiccolo]

That's more typical of an out of state school tuition. I ended up qualifying for in state where I'm at and shouldn't be paying more than 15-20k for tuition total. I was very tempted by some schools that were 10-15k a semester for no residents but I think I made the right choice for me. I'd rather not be stuck with lots of loans for years and years. I applied to northwestern last year but I'm very glad I didn't get in because tuition is just so high.

[SLP9207]

Northwestern was 8 quarters but as of April they are implementing a new curriculum which brings the program down to 7 quarters. 

[SLPosteriorCricoarytenoid]

Holy moly that is outrageous. SLPs make good money, but I could never justify paying that much for the degree. Also, when you factor in interest it would almost be safe to say you would never get out of debt with an SLPs salary. I just received my first graduate tuition bill for fall and it is around $4,500 which makes me feel a little better about my debt.  

[SLP9207]

Holy moly that is outrageous. SLPs make good money, but I could never justify paying that much for the degree. Also, when you factor in interest it would almost be safe to say you would never get out of debt with an SLPs salary. I just received my first graduate tuition bill for fall and it is around $4,500 which makes me feel a little better about my debt.  

 

While it is a lot of money, it is not impossible to get out of that debt with an SLPs salary. I guess it depends on what area of SLP you pursue but there are ways to make it work for people attending. I wouldn't scare people out of attending school thats in the top 5 programs in the country. They do offer scholarships!