Eberhardt School of Business
Can Pacific's 4 year guarantee actually save you money on your business education?
Fall 2009
Dear Student,
Congratulations again on your acceptance into the Eberhardt School of Business at the University of the Pacific!
By now, you’ve heard from our students, Kate Hutchinson, Katrina Sohriakoff, and Jeff Surface, who have explained why they chose to complete their business education at the Eberhardt School. Those reasons included:
- Small classes, 95% of which are taught by Ph.D. faculty who are accessible and will know you by first name,
- Our international accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) – we’re one of only 561 accredited business schools out of 7,600 worldwide. That puts us in the top 7% in the globe and the top 33% in the nation,
- The Eberhardt School’s recognition by the Princeton Review as a top 290 Business School and by Business Week as one of the 121 Best Undergraduate B-Schools,
- Pacific’s status as a U.S. News & World Report top tier University,
- In-school, dedicated career services professionals, who build relationships with hundreds of employers, teach a required semester-long career class, and train you on how to present yourself professionally as you interview for internships and full-time jobs,
- Real world learning, where you have the opportunity to manage a $1.3 million investment fund, to run a real $100,000 web business, and an opportunity to learn global business by studying abroad experiences in one of 60 different locations.
In addition to congratulating you on your admission to Pacific, I want to explain how Pacific's 4-year guarantee can substantially lower your college costs and increase your lifetime income!
Everyone assumes that private schools are more expensive. But, at state universities, particularly in California, it can be very difficult to get the courses you need to graduate in 4 years. That’s one of the reasons, according to the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities, that the 4-year graduation rate is only 50% for the University of California and just 13% in the Cal State system. As a result, many UC and CSU students take 5 or 6 years to graduate, and incur substantial extra costs and lost income.
But at Pacific, as long as you’re meeting academic expectations (selecting a major by your sophomore year, meeting regularly with your advisor, passing general education and major courses with a "C" grade or better, satisfactorily completing 32 units per year), we guarantee that you’ll get the classes you need to graduate in 4 years, or else the fifth year of tuition is free. How much of a difference does Pacific’s 4-year guarantee make?
At a CSU, that fifth year costs you an additional $19,179 in average tuition, fees, books, off-campus room and board, and personal expenses, while at a UC, that fifth year costs you an extra $26,010. But during that fifth year you also aren’t earning an income. With the average college graduate earning $60,000 in salary and benefits, that fifth year of college actually costs you $79,179 at a CSU and $86,010 at a UC. If you take six years, the additional costs are enormous, $158,358 at a CSU and $172,020 at a UC. When pricing a Pacific degree, be sure to factor in the possibility of those additional costs. When you do, you’ll realize why U.S. News & World Report has named the University of the Pacific a “top value” university eight years in a row.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me personally by e-mail 
Richard Flaherty or by phone at (209) 926-7710. We hope to see you at the Eberhardt School of Business this fall.
Sincerely,
Richard Flaherty
Dean