There’s a price to pay to attend Case Western Reserve University, figuratively and literally. The anticipated cost of attendance for the 2026-2027 school year is broken down like this: $71,410 for tuition, $11,969 for housing and $8,600 for the unlimited meal plan. This equates to the sticker price of attendance at CWRU annually, totaling a whopping $91,979. It doesn’t take a cost breakdown to recognize the immense privilege we have as college students, but the loans and payments are likely looming in the backs of our minds. Everything we do, or don’t do, creates or augments our experience at college. So, for example, the choice you make to either skip courses or attend and take advantage of office hours makes all the difference in that matter. However, looking at the bigger picture, are tuition prices justified by the experience and value we receive?
According to a U.S. News report, the average college tuition and fees at ranked private colleges for the 2025-2026 academic year are $44,961. Luckily, CWRU is a generous grantor of need-based aid. In 2023, the average need-based scholarship or grant awarded to first-year students was $45,353, according to U.S. News. In 2023, CWRU met 98% of students’ financial aid needs, and 60% of the first-year student population received need-based aid. Though it is good news that students can have their financial needs met, they should be afforded more agency in decisions on how their money is spent.
The most prominent optional expense from the get-go is the meal plan. The price distribution between one meal plan and the next unfairly favors the universal meal plan, making it more difficult for students to find a middle ground when weighing the cost and benefits of each meal plan. Most students take on an “all or nothing” mentality when selecting a meal plan, because the difference between the universal meal plan and 17 meals/week plan is only $105 per semester. The difference between the universal meal plan and the 10 meals/week plan is $365 plus a $100 bonus in CaseCash each semester. Evidently, students can save some money, yet it is arguably not justifiable to take on a smaller meal package. Maintaining a healthy balance of nourishment is also vital for any student, and some are not able to fully consider eliminating their meal plan to cook for themselves, whether that is due to limited access to a kitchen space or other miscellaneous reasons.
On-campus housing is lacking in its amenities if you are unable to afford, or simply unwilling to pay, the cost for an improved living experience. For example, for the second-year living experience, to reap the benefits of an updated air-conditioning and heating system, you have to relinquish the right to a suite-style, private kitchen. Whereas those who want to have the possibility of having an in-suite kitchen must forget about the AC system. Each of these living experiences is variable in cost, and so it is up to the students to decide what is best for them with financial limitations in mind. However, housing is bound to get more costly as students upgrade from underclassmen to upperclassmen housing options. There should be more flexibility in housing prices. One idea could be an opt-out option for professional cleaning services, which would allow students to be responsible for their own cleanliness in the common spaces. Another is the idea of purchasing one’s own dorm resources, like toilet and hand towel rolls, taking ownership of one’s dorm and upkeep. These are a couple of ways to cut down on housing costs to alleviate the financial burden of steep tuition costs.
Meanwhile, CWRU has a host of decrepit dormitories that students continue to stay in, including the Property Management Apartments, some of which have uneven heating, leaving students freezing during the winter months, or shabby flooring, with tiles cracking or unsticking from the floor. When the temperature drops below freezing, university housing advises residents to shut their windows, and as a result, some people report extremely hot temperatures in their apartments. Some residents in The Village houses have experienced flooding, resulting in carpet replacement or been provided with faulty microwaves. Yet the prices of these options remain relatively high, disproportionate to what they are worth.
It seems like the CWRU budget caters towards the improvement of the overall CWRU image through superficial expenses in the form of branding and new grandiose construction projects, with little left over to invest in student well-being and comfort through improvements in day-to-day usage, like student transportation. The shuttle service and SafeRide continue to be congested by the undersized vehicle-to-student ratio, despite year-long complaints about the matter.
CWRU upholds a moral obligation to prioritize student experience and satisfaction, and that could start with the conversation of cost-reduction to give students more leeway financially and autonomously.