The Finals: Prestige vs. Price

Hello, friends--This is the final post of the March Madness 2026 series, Beyond the Brand. These entries have focused on "the other March Madness" which transcends the world of sports. How does one make the final college decision?

ICYMI

First, I want to remind you that ALL of our interactive visualization tools for families and counselors have been unlocked. Everything is free! I'm hosting the work off-website, though. It keeps things cheap and easy on my end. If you find our tools helpful, bookmark the page! I'm glad to keep the tools available so long as they are used. Spread the word.

Now: Prestige v. Price

I thought it fitting to place the question of pestige vs. price at the end. So often, families wrestle with this flavor of prioritization right down to the last minute.

UConn and Michigan are still in play in the men's tourney, and they set us up nicely to consider the question, especially if we frame it for a resident of Connecticut.

Hypothetical student

"Jack," born and raised in, say, Hartford, is an outstanding student. Michigan and UConn both want him.

Here's a ballpark guess at the price comparison Jack would be considering:

(Those are prices from Fall 2024, along with my best guess as to the kind of discount Jack might receive.)

As an aside: I published a viz recently which shows every state's most expensive public institution for out-of-state students. It could be subtitled, "Because they Can--" popular colleges command a lot of money. Interestingly, the University of Michigan's OOS "tax" is the highest in the US. Click the image to see the viz itself.

The take-home message is this: UConn levies a $23K surcharge for non-residents; Michigan charges an extra $43K.

Is it worth it?

Where should Jack go? Like everything else in the world of the college search, it depends. How can Jack decide between two commodities which are over $200K apart in price? Assuming, that is, that both options are even do-able for his family.

Possible data sources abound. There are too many places to look. MCD was founded largely so families could find what they need in one place. Our tools do not guide anyone stepwise through the whole college search, but they all serve a particular purpose.

The College Cheat sheet was built for families in need of a quick comparison tool. The image below shows UConn and Michigan side by side. The tool compares three at a time, so I included Illinois for good measure. As with the out-of-state surcharge tool, the image below can be clicked to access the tool itself.

On several fronts, Michigan stands taller than UConn. For example, I think it's fair to say that more money per student is desirable, as is a lower student: faculty ratio. In terms of the rankings, 20 is great--but 69 is nothing to sneeze at, especially in light of--well, less money and fewer faculty members per student. Among public universities which are outranked by UConn you'll find Indiana, Clemson, and several of the UCs.

Less tangible elements of fit

While families probably concentrate most on price, there are some other advantages which come with attending a less selective school. What about overall satisfaction and well-being: how do you measure that?

Don't know where to start? Try AI

Well, not all data is numeric, or even objective. Answers must be communicated verbally. AI can help us at least identify some questions to ask as we seek insight.

Surely I do not need to include a disclaimer here, but I shall do so nonetheless: what AI spits out may or may not be true. Subject matter experts have never been more valuable; who else can evaluate the quality of an AI report? Until one is a subject matter expert, AI must not be used as a shortcut to truth. It is great, though, at introducing questions which need to be asked or answers which need to be verified.

Are students at UConn or Michigan happier?

As you may know, Niche.com is loaded with student reviews. I gathered about ten pages of text for both UConn and Michigan, and I asked AI to evaluate where students might be happier, what the reviews reveal about the strengths and weaknesses of each institution to be, and what might surprise my readers about each school. Check it out the findings.

Is this fair?

The shortcomings of this report are pretty obvious; the "bottom line," in particular,

implies that all students would be happy at UConn while none of them would be challenged. That's silly.

Still--in a world where the Kool-Aid of selectivity is peddled on every corner, the topics covered in the AI report might provide perspective. But consider the source--an artificial intelligence driven review of Niche.com inputs. This is not exactly the scientific method in action.

Again, I do not pretend to offer a stepwise method for choosing the right school. There's a lot to consider. As far as I am concerned, if your student can answer, "Why this college?" you've gone a long way towards overcoming the hype and making the college search meaningful.

All the best,

Leigh