Failing at finance

While educators statewide are emphasizing higher academic standards for our college students, Indiana is receiving a 2.0 on its higher education report card.\nThe grades come from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, based in San Jose, Calif., in its "Measuring Up 2004" report. In the five categories, Indiana received a B, three C's and a D.\nThe Hoosier state received its D in affordability, down from a D+ two years ago We weren't alone in this category. Nationwide, 36 states received F's and 11 received D's. Shouldn't affordability have been graded on a curve?\nApparently the Center for Figuring Out Really Obvious Things must have helped compile the data that says that college is expensive nowadays. It's no surprise to students that education is costly. According to the report, for 40 percent of families at the lower end of the income scale in Indiana, it costs up to 43 percent of their income to pay for a public university. Higher education is supposed to provide opportunities for us all to succeed, but if the costs get any higher, soon only the wealthy will be able to afford to be educated.\nDebts are piling up and students are dropping out because of rising costs. And what does the government have to say about this? The economy has been the scapegoat of choice when it comes to explaining why tuition is so high. But on Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan boosted interest rates because he said the economy has been improving. According to the Associated Press, the U.S. added 144,000 jobs in August, even though it has lost 913,000 positions since President Bush took office. The economy is still bad, but it's improving -- so why isn't tuition getting any better?\nTo be fair, officials have experimented with some cures. During the last session of Indiana's General Assembly, the State Senate decided not to vote on a bill to cap tuition for Indiana public universities. Although this strategy would have limited IU's ability to keep academically competitive, the authors argued it would put more pressure on the State Legislature to properly fund higher education. In addition, IU President Adam Herbert has proposed increasing merit-based scholarships from the University to attract the best students and help them afford public education.\nAlthough we see some possible solutions, it seems the majority of decision-makers have accepted high tuition as a problem that will go away on its own. Our government officials have made high tuition costs a fact of life that will never be fully resolved, similar to the War on Drugs or the AIDS crisis.\nBut the truth is that there are solutions out there that can work. We just haven't exhausted the options. Brown University announced Tuesday that a $100 million gift would be used to eliminate the necessity of loans for the neediest students. Sometimes these creative solutions are needed for the biggest problems.\nThe problems with tuition aren't going to go away. Our elected officials should step up and put this problem on the front burner to relieve the unnecessary burden on middle- and lower-class America.