Tuition Increase Outrage? Or not.
Justin Bathon on Monday, March 21, 2011 at 7:56PM Why is there not more public outrage at some of the tuition increases going on this year? Arizona announced today a proposed 22 percent increase. My friend Jon Becker told me on twitter that VCU has that beat - and that the governor is now punishing them for it. Even lesser universities are raising tuition substantially. Here at UK our increases have been more modest, but we are still outpacing inflation by a wide margin. The recent book DIY-U apparently documents it well and has better numbers.
Anyway, where are the Congressional Investigations? Where are the attorney generals? Where are the public hearings? Where are the protests on the University steps? Where are the documentary films? Where are the YouTube videos? In short, where is the outrage?
Are we so accustomed to these dramatic tuition increases that no one even bothers to complain anymore?
It just makes me so sad to see us as a society passing on nearly all of the debt of running our higher educational system onto the future backs of our students - who will spend half their life just trying to get out from underneath it.
Reader Comments (1)
Excellent post Justin and I too am outraged. It certainly seems to be ONE factor as to why we are falling behind the rest of the world as far as our education system. It's priced out of reach for many. Sadly, schools such as the University of Washington had to freeze admissions, allowing no new students to enroll for a quarter last year. In state tuition falls considerably below the cost of educating a student. It's a great topic, as to WHY are the costs outpacing inflation? Where exactly in the system are the costs "out of whack"?
We also know that the solution to improve education is not simply throwing money at it. Wyoming is a case in point, spends more per student than most any state in the union, including one of the highest teacher salary scale in the country and they are barely above the national average after many years of this in regards to standardized tests. Would love to see more discussion on this. Thanks!