From top-notch athletic programs to state-of-the-art technology, BYU is no stranger to the spotlight.
The Huffington Post recently published a unigo.com study, highlighting an added bonus that LDS students have: the best bang for their buck.
More than 30,000 students voted on what they thought was the best education for the lowest price and BYU was named one of 10 colleges where students could receive the best education for the lowest price.
According to the The College Board, BYU offers tuition for less than one-fifth of the cost of the average four-year nonpublic college. Currently, BYU charges $2,280 for LDS students and $4,560 for non-LDS students per semester.
BYU is able to offer an exceptional education for a lower price for a variety of reasons. One reason is the professors.
Faculty members like Earl Stice, a professor of accounting who previously taught at Cornell, Rice and the University of Arizona, come to BYU because they want to help build BYU’s reputation.
“When you’re a more experienced professor, the things you do benefit the university more than they benefit you,” Stice said. “If we do something good, it reflects positively on the Church and that’s important to me.”
Paying tribute to the mothers of BYU students, Stice also said BYU can do things cheaper because students are taught to be good people. The Honor Code allows tests to be taken online or in a testing center, which saves hours of class time that would otherwise be spent taking exams.
David Hansen, who is a visiting professor of economics at BYU, added his support to Stice. Professors can truly trust students to make the right decisions on a regular basis.
“Because students have more character, there is more education,” Hansen said.
Hansen also said many college students are tied down after graduation because they are required to pay back student loans. BYU students, according to Hansen, are more free to pursue a variety of options after graduation because low tuition costs render lower student debt.
“Tuition is so much cheaper, and that allows students to graduate with fewer student loans,” Hansen said. “I had a lot more freedom to go to graduate school because I didn’t have that debt.”
Stice also spoke of the need to remind students that a significant portion of their tuition is paid for with precious tithing dollars.
“There are poor people … paying their tithing so you can go to school here and get a break and get a good deal,” Stice said.
