The_Rambler_1989-09-19

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ANNIVERSARY f l a m b l e r
Tuition Rises Faster Than Inflation For The Ninth Year In A Row
By Amy Hudson
(CPS) — For the ninth year in a row, the price
students pay to attend college has risen faster than the
inflation rate, the College Board says.
Educators and other adult observers be-moaned
the increases, yet generally thought the price
of college remained affordable. Students, on the
other hand, seemed to greet the news with more
alarm.
"I keep seeing it increase, but there's no
(financial aid) help and not a lot of improvements,"
said Southwestern Oklahoma State University junior
Ronda Mills. "Several of my friends are unable to be
here because of it."
Mills and her classmates registered at South-western
Oklahoma Aug. 22 to find their tuition had
risen 17 percent, to $1,160.
"If they hike tuition again next year I'm not
coming back," declared Melissa Lopez, a University
of Mexico junior. Despite an eight-day student occu-pation
of President Gerald May's office last spring,
UNM officials raised the annual in-state tuition $1(X)
to $1,372.
Nationwide, collegians will pay an average
of 5 to 9 percent more for tuition and fees this
academic year, the College Board reported in its just-released
annual tuition survey. The general inflation
rate for the 12 months ending in June was 5.2 percent.
At public four-year schools, average tuition
and fees is up 7 percent, to $ 1,694. Students at private
schools will pay an average of 8,737,9 percent more
than in 1988-89.
Two-year public schools raised their tuition
5 percent to $842. Two-year private schools hiked
their prices an average of 7 percent, to $4,713.
In addition to higher tuition, the College
Board said students can expect to pay 6 to 7 percent
more for on-campus room and board.
About the only official who expressed much
worry about the jumps was U.S. Dept. of Education
Sec. Lauro Cavazos.
"I am increasingly concerned about the grow-ing
gap between the price of higher education and
what the students can afford," Cavazos said. "Every
leader in higher education must make holding costs a
priority."
In fact, colleges are doing an "extraordinary"
job of holding down their own costs, maintained
Richard Roser of the National Association of Inde-pendent
Colleges and Universities, based in Wash-ington,
D.C.
They're doing it, too, at a time when they're
scratching for funds to keep faculty members from
leaving for more lucrative jobs in private industry, to
repair campus facilities left unmaintained for years,
and to retool campuses for the computer age.
As a result, higher education remains "within
the reach of virtually every qualified student," as-serted
College Board President Donald Stewart in
releasing the report
He said students who don't have the money
themselves can get it from some $26 billion worth of
financial aid available to collegians this year.
"There's no reason for qualified students to
be enrolled in higher education," agreed David
Merkowitz of the American Council on Education
(ACE), a campus presidents' trade group based in
Washington D.C.
Kent Halstead of Research Associates of
Washington, D.C. added that his 1988 study of col-lege
prices concluded mition rates remain about the
same percentage of American incomes as they were
two decades ago.
ConsequenUy Halstead believed college is
still "a good buy."
"It's hard to make the case that most mid- to
lower class students can't afford (college) ,"said
Halstead. "Most increases are only about $100 a year.
People can buy a portable radio for that price."
College will continue to be a bargain until
"people say they can't afford as much education as
they want," he said. "If a ^dent says he can't go
because of financial problems, then it's too high."
Some students argue tuition has already
reached that point.
"If it were any higher, I'd have to drop out,"
said UNM student Lisa Rivas, who supports herself
through federal loans and a work-study job at the
school's financial aid office. "I see alot of students in
here who are breaking down over the increase."
Not all schools raised tuition, though. South-em
Arkansas University cut money from equipment.
travel and other budgets to avoid raising its rates.
"This is a trade-off between getting as much quality
as we can afford and keeping the students here who
might drop out," said President Harold Brinson in
announcing the decision.
New York Gov. Mario Cuomo vetoed a
proposed $200 a year tuition hike for the City of New
York system May 2, but only after students at 16 of
the system's 18 campuses took over administration
buildings in protest.
Some schools are opting to charge new stu-dents
more than current ones.
The University of Chicago and Duke, John
Hopkins, Seton Hall and George Washington univer-sities
all have announced two-tiered plans in which
new students will be hit with bigger increases than
those imposed on upperclass students.
At Duke, new Arts and Sciences Students
will pay $12,800 per year, $1,450 more than return-ing
students.
Students might as well get used to annual
tuition increases of about 6 to 7 percent in the foresee-able
ftiture, the ACE's Merkowitz predicted.
For all the complaining, students do seem
willing to pay. "It's incredibly high," senior Delia
Reid said of her tuition at Bennington College in
Vermont, which at $ 16,495 is the highest in the coun-try.
"But it's worth it. If you don't have a penny and
they want you to come here, they'll make sure you
can."