Reports compiled by Steve Burns
Liberty Tree Foundation

The economic crisis has only exacerbated a long-term trend in declining state support for higher education, and the shifting of the cost of education onto the backs of students. Below is a brief roundup of tuition-hike reports from around the country.

 

University of Arizona: 

The President of the University of Arizona has proposed a $2,130 jump in tuition and fees for undergraduate students, raising the cost by 31 percent, to $8,972 a year.

 

Arizona State University is recommending a $1,286-a-year increase for new students, or 19 percent, bringing annual tuition and fees to $8,126. Current ASU students would face hikes of nearly 14 percent, or $770 to $871 more a year, depending on when they started.

 

And incoming students at Northern Arizona University would pay $1,040 more a year, or 16 percent. The new charges would bring tuition and fees to $7,667 annually. NAU officials promised that new students' tuition would be frozen at that level for the next eight semesters, though they could pay more in future years via fee increases.

 

As a result of a consistent pattern of tuition increases, undergraduate debt has increased 12 percent at the three state universities over the past six years, with the average undergraduate student taking out $19,110 in student loans.

 

Jonathan Garcia, 21, a junior at UA, is paying for school through a combination of a scholarship, federal Pell Grant and student loans. His scholarship doesn't increase each year to keep up with rising costs, so he has had to take out student loans since his sophomore year. He also has a part-time job.

 

"I'm speechless," he said when he found out how much tuition could be going up this fall. "That's a lot of money."

 

Garcia has taken out about $8,000 in loans and said he is concerned about keeping his debt as low as possible so that he can go on to graduate school.

 

The proposals still need the approval from the Arizona Board of Regents. Last year, the regents raised tuition twice, the second time by approving an "economic-recovery surcharge" that added several hundred dollars to tuition bills. Presidents of all three universities are recommending the surcharge remain in place for the 2010-11 school year, and UA President Robert Shelton even wants it to be permanent.

 

Arizona legislators have made deep cuts in state funding for the schools, which peaked at $1 billion a year in 2008. Last year, legislators cut state funding by 20 percent and this year by an additional 21 percent. Full story...

 

Renee Schafer Horton, a student at University of Arizona, has commentary on the tuition hikes here...

 

University of Houston: 

Despite the urging of state Senator John Whitmire, D-Houston, who encouraged them to ask the Legislature for more money, the Board of Regents at the University of Houston decided to cut their request for state funds by 5% and shift the cost of education further onto students, through tuition hikes as high as 26.5%. Provost John Antel said the increases were consistent with practices over the past 20 years, in which tuition has increased to offset a drop in the level of state funding. Antel noted that, in 1990, state money covered 54 percent of the university's operating budget, while this year, it's 32 percent. “We realize we have to become more self-supporting,” he said.

 

Under the plan, new students would pay far more than those currently enrolled in the University. Those who enroll next fall will pay 26.5 percent more — an increase of about $5,500 — while current students will see their tuition rise 12 percent, an increase of about $2,500.

 

Law students will also see a large hike, as regents approved a 16.5 percent increase for tuition at the law school.

 

Law school Dean Ray Nimmer defended the increase — originally set to be 20 percent but whittled down before the board meeting — as necessary to keep up with the competition. “Legal education has just skyrocketed in cost around the country,” he said. “We've held our own even though we haven't done any large tuition increases. But with state budget cuts and with the demands of being able to run a really good law school, we just have to do it."  Full report...

 

University of Connecticut:

The UConn board of trustees has voted for a 5.66 percent tuition increase for the 2011 fiscal year.

 

Room and board will increase by 7 percent and 6 percent respectively.

 

Tom Haggerty, President of UConn's Undergraduate Student Government, supported the increases, citing cuts in state funding and the need to maintain educational standards. "What other option do we have but to raise tuition?” he asked.

 

The Board of Regents two student trustees even attempted twice to raise the increase but the 21-member board voted down anything higher.

 

“I don’t want the value of my degree to depreciate,” Student Trustee Corey Schmitt said, explaining that students need to see loans as an expected “investment” for their future.

 

Jason Ortiz, a 7th-semester public and community engagement major, argued that it is unreasonable that tuition revenue will be a greater source of funds for the university than state funding. He and other students called for a delay of the vote, and asked for more student discussion.

 

Ortiz started an organization called “Student Committee On Reprioritization of Education” (SCORE).

 

“We realized that the tuition battle is going to be bigger than one group can handle and Idealists thought it would be best to create a committee specifically for this issue,” Ortiz said. “The first thing we will be doing is asking for a very detailed university budget, and we will use Freedom of Information requests if necessary.” Full story...

 

University of Colorado:

Colorado legislators are debating a bill that would allow Colorado's public colleges and universities to raise tuition without state approval. 

 

Deborah Mendez-Wilson, a spokesperson for CU System President Bruce Benson. "We need that flexibility to set our own tuition so we can generate revenue. It's really not about raising profits for the university. It's about ensuring that we maintain the high quality of our programs and the high quality of the institution overall."

 

Declining state revenues of more than $2 billion have forced massive cuts to higher education funding over the last two budget years, and more cuts in state aid are imminent with a projected shortfall for the 2010-11 budget year of $1.3 billion.

 

Senate Majority Leader John Morse, D- Colorado Springs, cited the "Harvard Model" as the direction Colorado Universities might move towards: "For instance, if Phil Anschutz sends his kid to CU, he pays $25,000 a year because he can afford it," Morse explained. "If someone else deserves to get in but can't pay, then the money from the kids paying higher tuition creates financial aid for them. Essentially, the rich subsidize the poor, which is the model private schools like Harvard use." Full report...

 

Vermont:

The President of Middlebury College, a private college at which tuition, fees, room and board approach $50,000 a year, has proposed a long-term cap on tuition hikes of 1% above the Comsumer Price Index, a common measure of the rate of inflation.

 

In the past, Middlebury had instituted increases in tuition and fees that were typically 2 percentage points above CPI and sometimes as much as 4 percentage points higher, levels that are not unusual compared to other private colleges.

 

"The prolonged greater-than-CPI increases in our comprehensive fee have ramifications for the college both internally and externally. We need to recognize that the demand for a four-year liberal arts degree, while still great, is not inelastic: There will be a price point at which even the most affluent of families will question their investment; the sooner we are able to reduce our fee increases the better," said Middlebury PresidentRonald D. Liebowitz, in a speech at the college on Friday announcing the policy shift.

 

Liebowitz said that some college has to start making a long-term commitment to smaller increases. "It's a matter of changing the psychology of how we and others think about the future," he said.

 

Liebowitz was hopeful for faculty support for the plan, and said that initial responses have been favorable. Prior to developing the plan, the college surveyed various constituencies about possible areas for cuts in spending. Faculty members felt more strongly about preserving financial aid and policies that provided student access than they did about their salaries, he said. Full report...

Areas of Focus:

Democratizing Education (Liberty Tree), Full Funding

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