This is always a popular topic, but the subject is misunderstood. I want to talk about discount rate at private colleges. IPEDS has the best data on first-year (or freshman) discount, so that's what I visualize. And the first part of this is going to get a bit into the weeds; if you work in a private college or university, and you use this in your work, or you send it to trustees, you can support my time, effort, software, and hosting costs by buying me a coffee . If you don't want the details, and you think you understand this concept, feel free to skip down to the section that breaks down the views, below the line of asterisks. For those who always ask, no, I don't do this for public universities. It may be helpful to compare institutions within a state, but beyond that, state funding models and the mix of resident and nonresident tuition rates make comparisons across borders mostly meaningless. And for the more knowledgeable who might w...