For Concordia University, St. Paul, the college’s biggest competitor isn’t other colleges — it’s no college at all, as students, considering affordability, decide not to go.

The private university announced last week that it would lower undergraduate tuition by $5,500 — a 20% reduction — for the 2027-28 school year. University officials said the move is part of a commitment to make college affordable and puts the university’s tuition on par with many public universities in the state. Financial awards for returning students will also be reconfigured so they also will benefit from the change, officials said.

“We believe (in) making it affordable — tuition affordable — and doing it in a way that’s transparent, that’s clear. That students and their families can say, ‘Oh, okay, I have a really good idea of what my true cost of education at CSP is going to be,” said university President Brian Friedrich on Wednesday.

Concordia lowered its tuition in 2013 by one-third as part of a “tuition reset.” Since then, enrollment and programming have grown, retention and four-year graduation rates have risen and the private college has doubled in size, according to officials. This is at the same time enrollment at Minnesota’s private colleges has dropped by 18%, they said.

Tuition at that time went from $29,700 per year to $19,700 per year.

The new reset comes at the same time as many Americans are opting out of higher education. Nearly 30% of students the university tracked around three years ago after they applied or showed interest in the college eventually opted not to attend a college at all, said Kimberly Craig, CSP Global vice provost.Concordia’s not alone in its strategy — Bethel University lowered its listed tuition for all new and continuing undergraduate students from $44,050 to $25,990 in 2025, part of a wider effort by colleges to cut sticker prices to provide more transparency on cost.

With the St. Paul university’s growth, and by utilizing multiple revenue streams, it was in a position to lower its tuition again without impacting programs or activities, officials said. As part of its “Tuition Reset 2.0,” the undergraduate tuition cut will bring its listed price to $21,700, matching the university’s 2006 rate. When adjusted for inflation, the 2027-28 school year will cost around 40% less than it did in 2006, according to university officials. Room and board was not included in the discount and will be $13,650 in 2027-28.

“When we went back to 2013, we knew exactly how many more students we wanted to have and we almost tripled that number,” said Eric LaMott, university provost and chief operating officer. “So that to us says, hey, there is pent-up demand for an institution that is willing to make their education affordable.”

Undergraduate tuition at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus this school year is $19,312 before adding in costs like fees and room and board.

Tuition at Macalester College, which includes required course materials in its cost, is $74,394. At the University of St. Thomas, it is $56,856. Both are private colleges.

More than a third of Concordia students are the first in their family to go to college, according to university officials. More than 50% are eligible for federal Pell grants. When they graduate with less debt, they also are able to make different decisions about the first job they accept out of college and their career path, Craig said.

“CSP consistently ranks among top universities in Minnesota and the nation for social mobility,” Craig said. “And the social mobility index really measures whether an institution changes that financial trajectory of their students.”

To learn more about the tuition change, go to csp.edu/about/tuition-reset/.