Increasing tuition threatens the value of higher education
At a meeting of the State Board of Higher Education on Jan. 6, 2012, a near 9 percent increase in tuition for the full 2012–13 academic year was approved for Portland State. Included in this hike is a 9 percent increase in tuition for the upcoming 2012 summer session as well.
Summer enrollment across the entire OUS has been increasing significantly in recent years, with many students seeking to take advantage of the traditionally lower costs compared to the regular academic terms. That alternative to soaring overall tuition fees has apparently run its course.
Robin Michell, the manager of budget planning and analysis at PSU, has been quoted by the Vanguard saying that “aligned to our core mission of providing a quality educational experience and promoting student success, the university must consider the costs to deliver this educational experience, such as increases due to inflation for goods and services consumed, higher cost of living, increased benefit costs [for faculty] and operation and maintenance of the buildings and outdoor spaces.”
On the surface that’s understandable; we’re used to things getting more expensive over time. The problem is that tuition costs have been rising at an average rate four times greater than inflation for the past several decades.
Last term, PSU hosted a lecture by Christopher Newfield, a professor of English at the University of California Santa Barbara, titled “The Innovation Conspiracy: Ruin and Rebirth in the American University.” He argued the combination of mass access and strong quality of education that previously has defined public universities—like PSU—is on the decline.
Financial missteps by administrators, as well as significant and habitual education budget cuts from state legislatures, has been steadily shifting the costs of tuition onto individual students rather than having it spread over society as a whole (as was done in the past). As a result, most students who graduate now do so with at least $25,000–40,000 of education debt. This can take many years or even a few decades after graduation to pay off.
And at the same time universities are raising tuition, educator salaries continue to be cut or frozen to fill in holes in university budgets. All the while class sizes are increasing, as many students view a college degree as necessary to get ahead in our dysfunctional job market.
So instructors are getting paid less to do more work. How can we expect the quality of education to remain the same (or ever improve) under such circumstances?
The whole situation reeks of the “rich get richer; poor get poorer” themes that have been characteristic of American life since the turn of the century. The increase in student debt benefits large banks who then collect interest on loans well into the future. And while instructors receive salary cut after cut, administrative pay appears to be recession-proof.
University officials, as well as lawmakers who pass education budget cuts that force tuition hikes, are gutting the very system that probably allowed they themselves to become successful, burdening the current generation of students with even more debt in an already troubled economy.
The only upside for anyone seems to be for those in administrative roles; with salaries and benefits already sky-high for these positions, it seems that they have no incentive to see things from another point of view.
Unless there is something done to quell the increases—perhaps even lower tuition and fees at universities—higher education could easily become a privilege of the wealthy in this nation once more. Student loan limits aren’t increasing to help pay off the debt, after all; most students finance their education at least partially with private loans, too. Eventually, tuition rates will reach a level that prevents students from attaining higher education.
What then? Universities seem to be setting themselves up to fail both the students and the institutions. And it seems that no one is willing to change anything.
A 9 percent increase may not seem too threatening for some; after all, what’s a few thousand more dollars? However, the trend of high increases for tuition every year has to be setting off a few alarm bells. Will our children be able to afford an education, at this rate? Current graduates may still be paying off their own loans by that time.
Whether at an administrative or legislative level, something must be done to stop this trend. Otherwise, higher education in America may be a thing of the past.
