Up, up and away?

In the 2007-2008 fiscal year, students at the University of Colorado-Boulder can expect their tuition to increase by a fair amount: 14.6 percent to be exact. While increasingly unaffordable higher education strikes a chord with many of us state school students, consider this: The tuition increase is taking effect despite state funding that’s more generous than ever. It’s not just a trend at Boulder, either. Schools in Virginia, Nevada and Georgia, among others, are taking the same initiative and raising tuition despite increases in \npublic funding. \nThe rising cost of a college diploma is becoming a routine outrage. Especially when many tuition increases at state schools have been justified because of small state funding, we’re incredulous that the price still rises even when the funding goes up, making us wonder if we’ve been hearing the truth.\nStaff at many universities explain it like this: lack of state funding has cost the college a great deal, so when the funding goes up, it’s only a small payback of what’s been lost already. But these aren’t private schools we’re talking about. They’re state schools, and they have a responsibility to the public – one they seem to have forgotten. \nState schools receive funding, after all, because of their purpose. Universities like UC-Boulder, the University of Virginia and IU exist to provide their state with quality education at a reasonably affordable price. The benefits therein are enormous, albeit often underappreciated. An educated citizenry is perhaps the greatest asset a state can have. But the way these universities charge their students, it makes one wonder if they realize it. \nWhile higher costs of tuition don’t necessarily change the total enrollment in a college, the unseen effect is the change in the demographic. Students from wealthy families who want to go to school in-state can afford the few extra thousand dollars. Students who come from poverty are more deeply affected. Universities insist that they want a diverse student population but don’t seem to hesitate in shrinking the poor applicant pool with prohibitively high tuition, despite increased funding.\nSome might argue that these hikes in tuition allow the university to offer top-notch programs. But what use are Nobel-laureate professors to someone who was forced out of school by the cost required to hire them? Especially when in-state rates are drastically lower than any other college options available to the poor, an increase in those rates can hardly be justified. As callous as it sounds, it isn’t the business of state schools to be the best in a particular field; their role is to educate their students. Better that the lower-middle class finally send a son or daughter to college than the privileged use more powerful microscopes or sit in a bigger stadium. If states are pumping more cash into universities, those schools have a duty to pass the savings on to students. State schools exist to provide opportunity, and if they keep raising tuition, it’s exactly what they’ll be taking away.