Assessing tuition and student aid strategies: Using price-response measures to simulate pricing alternatives

This paper uses price-response measures derived from recent national studies to assess institutional pricing (tuition and student aid) alternatives in diverse institutional settings. It concludes that such analyses are viable, especially if an understanding of institutional contexts is used to frame and interpret simulation results. The analyses indicate there are limits to the viability of the “Robin Hood” pricing approach that has predominated in private colleges during the past decade. New alternatives, such as simultaneous tuition and grant reductions or the creation of forgivable loans, merit consideration in some settings.