The article you linked seems to say that mainly the college is saying they are lowering the listed price but not so much the actual tuition they are bringing in: “College officials said BSC is able to reduce tuition without sacrificing education because more than 90 percent of students don’t pay full price already. BSC is generous with merit aid, and many students receive need-based financial aid and private scholarships, the college said.” That is, they had a $35,840 listed tuition, but most students were not paying that much due to their various discounts etc. Sounds like that was getting unbalanced and probably deterring students into thinking it was more expensive than it actually was.