Gordon College Launches "Game Change" Reboot in Tuition and Fees

Gordon College has unveiled a new pricing structure designed to connect quality and affordability and save students thousands of dollars over the course of their undergraduate study at the nationally ranked Christian college.

Tuition for the fall of 2021 will be 33 percent lower than this year, with the comprehensive fee dropping $670—as the overall “sticker price” reboots from $50,650 to $37,950.

Launched as the Gordon Game Change, the new pricing would mean a freshman entering next fall and graduating in four years would save more than $59,000 compared against the current sticker price (assuming a three percent annual increase).

Gordon’s Faith Rising fundraising campaign generated bold headlines at its public announcement last October with a lead gift of $75.5 million designated for the endowment and student scholarships—the largest single gift in history made to an evangelical college. This—plus another $50 million in gifts and gift commitments already secured for the campaign—are able to provide additional resources for student scholarships.

Perhaps more significantly—compared to similar resets at other colleges and universities—Gordon is continuing to fund scholarships, including those which are not endowed. Gordon’s marquee Global Honors Scholar program is actually endowed directly from the $75 million gift. While scholarship levels will be adjusted, when Gordon students combine a 33 percent reduction in tuition with scholarships and other financial aid, they will see true savings in their net cost to attend. Current Gordon students will have the opportunity to opt in at the lower price and adjusted scholarship levels next year, with most expected to save $1,000 or more next year alone. Or they can stay in the “old” model (with a higher sticker price but maintaining current scholarship levels.)

Gordon is able to make this dramatic move toward greater affordability after a series of successes that have positioned the College well. This summer, the College completed the strongest fiscal year in Gordon’s history even in the midst of COVID-19, and this fall Gordon had the highest retention of returning students in several years. Moreover, while many of its peers saw first-year student numbers decline by ten percent or more, Gordon’s freshman class is five percent larger than last year’s incoming class.

“My colleagues and I have been working on this for years, and we are thrilled now to be able to pass along real savings to every student and significantly increase our commitment to affordability in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Michael Lindsay, Gordon’s president. “This is the right thing to do and the right time to do it.

Lindsay noted this is especially good news for families who have wanted Gordon’s distinctly Christian liberal arts education in the tradition of Boston’s elite private institutions but ruled out the College because the face-value cost seemed prohibitive. This dynamic is a challenge many colleges face—a May 2020 survey by consulting firm Ruffalo Noel Levitz sent to nearly 60,000 11th grade high school students found the top reason students lost interest in a college or university—60 percent of respondents—was that it was too expensive.

“As the gap has grown between our stated price and the more affordable net price families would actually pay, the irony became that even alumni were assuming that the Gordon experience they loved and want for their own children was out of reach,” Lindsay said. “It’s not, and better price transparency will remind students that educational excellence can still be affordable, and these new changes will now bring Gordon within reach for many.”

In addition to the success of its Faith Rising campaign (which has helped the College’s endowment increase by 250 percent), the College has systematically and proactively realigned itself over the last several years to create more savings for students. Overall giving to Gordon has grown 69 percent while the College has reduced its debt by 24 percent. The College redesigned its core curriculum five years ago to be more flexible in meeting the needs of current students and implemented a more comprehensive restructure of the academic division in 2019 that also streamlined operating expenses. At the same time, a $10 million gift underwrote the launch of Gordon Global, the College’s digital learning platform. Auxiliary revenue has grown by 31 percent, and the College’s net assets have more than tripled over the last ten years.

“This is a milestone in Gordon’s history, and we are so grateful for the generosity of our supporters and the hard work of colleagues across campus who have made it possible for us to reset our tuition and fees,” Lindsay said. “This places us on the leading edge of a larger effort to make higher education more affordable for more families, and today’s actions allow us to remove a barrier to initial interest and provide greater transparency in pricing that more closely reflects the real costs to students and families. It is a game change, one in which our students will be the ultimate winners.”