As a publicly-funded state school, UMass is cheaper to attend than almost all private schools. The dip in the economy caused by the Great Recession made students who once would have attended a costlier but more prestigious private school turn to UMass instead, thereby increasing UMass’ academic standards of entry and moving the school upward. A disturbing trend, though, exists for students who picked UMass for financial reasons: despite UMass’ lower cost, UMass students graduate with more debt than most private college graduates do. A May 12 infographic released by the New York Times listed UMass’ in-state tuition and fees for the year of 2010 at $11,917, and the average debt for a UMass graduate that year at $25,420.
http://dailycollegian.com/2012/09/04/umass-vs-amherst-college-why-do-we-have-more-debt/
