Have you ever seen a college that you fell in love with on sight? One that you knew the moment you saw it would be the one you will spend your four to six years to earn your degree? However, you should always be cautious of what it would take to join a university’s ranks.
Drexel University is a lovely university to join. But why is Drexel so expensive? Learning the reason for its high cost will better prepare you for signing your admission form and make the cost more bearable.
How Prestigious is Drexel University?
How Prestigious is Drexel University?Drexel University is Philadelphia’s pride and joy. It began as the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry, followed by the Drexel Institute of Technology, before becoming the modern, well-rounded university it is today. With over 20,000 students attending, Drexel is a large and prestigious university. But how prestigious is it, exactly?
Drexel is a private research university: this means that it receives many benefits, loans, and grants from the government but is not owned by them. Drexel has to pay for its prestige and thus has quite a high tuition. In addition, being a research university means it is more focused on the mission to develop and teach its students as they are pioneers in the subjects and fields they focus on; this is called “knowledge production.” The professors and faculty of the university may also be more dedicated to publishing and defining their works and findings.
Today, Drexel is a university with many different colleges, such as:
- The Antionette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design encourages the study and management of various kinds of arts;
- The Bennett S. LeBow College of Business focused on its business majors and programs;
- The Thomas R. Kline School of Law, which is the first law school to be founded in Philadelphia in the last three decades;
- The Dornsife School of Public Health aims to provide education and conduct research to improve the health of various populations;
- And finally, the Drexel Engineering Curriculum, a program ranked the 52nd best undergraduate engineering program in the 2009 edition of U.S. News for its rigorous engineering classes.
Drexel University is also known for its cooperative education program, which provides a unique educational experience where students alternate between lectures to study and full-time practice work to prepare them for their future. This education program is unique and uncommon among different kinds of universities: it is a system that helps turn your major into job and work experience almost immediately, which is an enormous boon for students who are unable to afford the time, money, or extra effort it would take to have to get a separate, different job while going to college. Getting a job or internship that explicitly deals with your chosen future work is especially difficult during and after college graduation. If you are looking for a college to help alleviate this pressure, Drexel University is the one for you.
In summary, Drexel University is known as a tailor-made university for students who want to turn their curriculum into a degree, published works, and a job that will guide their future careers. The cost of such prestige will not be cheap, especially not for the people who attend. But with so much prestige, there must be some cost behind it. How much does it cost to attend Drexel University, anyway?
How Much Does It Cost to Attend Drexel University?
Colleges, in general, are not the kind of investment that come cheap. They require much from a student, not just upfront, but over several years or longer, depending on how long a student wishes or needs to study for. Not only that, but it may take longer depending on how well the student performs in their classes; a four-year degree can become a six-year degree if a student struggles to make high marks or if they decide to change their major into something else, taking more time to take additional classes.
So when Drexel University calculates an average yearly tuition of $39,463, that is a hefty asking price. This cost also does not include additional costs like books or supplies, but a student should be most wary of the cost of room and board. If you plan to stay at Drexel for the campus housing and meal plan, then you’re looking at the tuition plus a quarter of that tuition. One good thing about Drexel University’s price tag is that out-of-state tuition is the same as in-state tuition; this is relatively rare among universities and colleges.
The tuition and cost aren’t as dire as it looks, however. Students can receive grants, scholarships, and other forms of financial aid. The average student who attends Drexel University will have 74% of their needs met, according to Cappex. The average financial aid per year is $30,449, so this aid will pay off a considerable chunk of a student’s tuition before they have to deal with those pesky student loans. And financial aid is available in plenty even for students who have or are funded by a sizable income: students whose families earn over $110,000 may still get aid around the average of $25,448.
However, it should be noted that not many students receive financial aid for several different reasons. For starters, financial aid comes in grants and scholarships, not simply given to a student but awarded for things like academic excellence or particular needs. As we stated before, Drexel University is a rather prestigious school, one in which the kind of students that are admitted are the ones who can earn that financial aid—but they’re also the kind of students that wouldn’t need them. By contrast, more than half of the student body takes out student loans to afford their tuition, which requires fewer needs but saddles them with debt in the future when students begin to graduate.
Attending Drexel University will be expensive for the average student. Four years of tuition of about $40,000 will total up to $160,000 when all is said and done. While financial aid can reduce this cost significantly, a student will still look at several thousand dollars when they finish graduating if they aren’t struggling to stay in college, that is.
Why is Drexel University so expensive anyway? What goes into a college that makes its tuition inflated in the first place?
What Makes Drexel University Expensive?
There are several reasons that Drexel University is expensive, similar to any other kind of expensive college. We went into extensive detail about what Drexel offers, and rest assured that it delivers on its high price and rewards. This is the kind of university that looks great on your resume in the future.
One critical aspect of Drexel’s high tuition cost is its status as a private research university. There are high expectations for the university to produce students who themselves produce a substantial amount of research material. As stated previously, being private means they must afford their costs and various colleges.
However, if you can’t even get into Drexel, how much it costs becomes irrelevant. Is Drexel a hard college to get into?
Is Drexel a Hard College to Get Into?
Despite everything we’ve put into describing Drexel University, including its high tuition cost, history, and prestige, you may think it is one of the most challenging colleges to enter. Specifically, you will have to expect that only a transcript with impressive grades, extra activities, and letters of recommendation can break through to the applicators at Drexel and turn that admission form into an acceptance letter.
The average GPA of students who get into Drexel University is 3.73 out of a weighted scale of 4.0. PrepScholar deems this to be intensely competitive and that to be considered for Drexel University; you must have been above average in your class. The average scores for the SAT and ACTs are considerably less significant, as the average SAT score is 1289 out of 1600. Finally, the acceptance rate is 82.6%, well above the national average of 68%.
Still, Drexel is quite the competitive school, and expecting it to be a guaranteed slot, even if you have impressive qualifications, will only result in disappointment. Your chances of getting into the university are highly in your favor.
Even if you are a student who makes it into Drexel University, attending it is another story. As we’ve stated before, there is a high cost to maintain admission, and the courses and classes are not accessible either. Finally, while Drexel offers a program that seamlessly mixes school work and regular work, that is still more work and effort than students who go to other, cheaper universities.
With all these details being considered, is attending Drexel worth the money?
Is Drexel Worth the Cost?
Despite the school’s tuition and competitive nature, Drexel University is worth the cost. Drexel is a university that takes students who join their ranks, molds them into future researchers and publishers, and prepares them for lucrative careers in their chosen field(s).
Even if financial aid does not do too much for a student to avoid paying student loans, the best case for the student is that their degree and connections from Drexel will land them a job that will start paying for itself.
Wrapping Things Up: Why is Drexel So Expensive?
Why is Drexel so expensive? Simply put, Drexel is a university that promises to give its students back more than they paid for. While the tuition and additional costs may seem daunting, Drexel is a well-made school with many programs designed to turn your college education into instant work and payoff as soon as you graduate. Because it is not difficult to attend in the end, a student of Drexel will be able to make up the difference and then some!
