Education expert questions whether $100K-a-year colleges are worth it

( NewsNation ) — As at least 15 U.S. colleges now carry sticker prices topping $100,000 a year , one education policy expert says the higher education market may be headed for a reckoning.

According to data from The Princeton Review reported by CNBC , the $100,000-plus figures reflect total cost of attendance, including tuition, fees, housing and other expenses, rather than tuition alone.

Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow at the American Enterprises Institute (AEI), told NewsNation’s Hena Doba on “On Balance” that elite universities — including Harvard at $104,000 and Duke at $103,000 annually — have long assumed families will pay whatever is asked because of the perceived value of the degree.

“I think it’s within reason to think that we might start to really reckon whether or not the price is worth it or not,” he said.

Pondiscio pointed to declining birth rates as a looming pressure on universities, predicting schools will eventually have to compete harder for a shrinking pool of students. He added that some industries, including tech, are increasingly questioning whether a degree from an elite institution carries the weight it once did.

Four-year degree still worth about $1M over a lifetime

He said the specific degree matters as much as the school, drawing a distinction between STEM fields and majors ending in “studies.” Some Michigan schools have started offering three-year degrees to cut costs, he said.

Despite the concerns, Pondiscio said a four-year degree still carries around $1 million in additional lifetime earnings compared to not holding one.

His advice to high school seniors: Still go to college but be “a thoughtful consumer about the value of your education and the institution.”