Tuition hikes, why now?

January 17, 2009 – 12:02 am – No Comment

The job market is diminishing more everyday, I know and I’m honestly scared. At the same time universities and colleges are laying off employees and cutting classroom spending, tuition is increasing…why?

Jane Wellman authored a report from the Delta Cost Project to find out why and here’s what the report had to offer:

–The main reason tuition has been rising faster than college costs is that colleges had to make up for reductions in the per-student subsidy state taxpayers sent colleges. In 2006, the last year for which Wellman had data, state taxpayers sent $7,078 per student to the big public research universities. That’s $1,270 less (after accounting for inflation) than they sent in 2002.

–Public universities have been reining in overall spending per student in recent years. Flagship public universities’ spending per student has risen from about $12,400 in 1995 to $13,800 in 2006 after accounting for inflation. But since 2002, spending at public colleges has generally not exceeded inflation.

–Increases in spending were driven mostly by higher administration, maintenance, and student services costs. Public universities spent almost $4,000 per student per year on administration, support, and maintenance in 2006, up more than 13 percent, in real terms over 1995. And they spent another $1,200 a year on services such as counseling, which was up 23 percent. Meanwhile, they spent about $8,700 a year on classroom instruction for each student, up about 9 percent.

–Big private universities, powered by tuition and endowment increases, have increased spending dramatically while public schools have languished. Total educational spending per student at private research universities has jumped by almost 10 percent since 2002 to more than $33,000. During that same period, public university total spending was comparatively flat and totaled less than $14,000 a year.

Perhaps at other colleges this is the norm, but I just can’t find out where my college spends $4,000 a year on me for administration, support and maintenance, unless they are talking about keeping the lights on at the giant football stadium all night, when there is no football game going on…I get emailed from my student advisers and the administration at my college processes my financial aid every year…And some of my teachers aren’t worth the paper that their pay stub is printed on. To cut costs perhaps a university should start re-evaluating their tenured professors according to the student evaluations that are published every semester.

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