Despite the economic recession, college tuition fees continue to rise at an alarming rate. According to a recent report issued by the College Board, tuition costs in the last year jumped 6.6 percent at public institutions and 4.4 percent at private ones. Colleges and universities keep hiking up the cost of education, in spite of a 2.2 percent decline in the Consumer Price Index over the past year. This is not only appalling on the surface; it is also the result of uncreative thinking on the part of colleges and universities, which have not taken advantage of this opportunity to implement better infrastructures for the future.
Obviously, the immediate cause of the tuition rise is the lack of funding from states and from endowments. However, state and private institutions should not put the bulk of the economic burden on students and their families alone. Raising tuition is a quick fix, providing universities with much-needed immediate cash. But after four years, it leaves many students financially ruined or, in some cases, unable to finish college.
Colleges and universities need to be looking to other cost-cutting strategies that would not only alleviate some of the immediate economic pressures but also permanently change how they spend their money. As Jane Wellman, the executive director of the Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity and Accountability, said, "Colleges need to be looking for ways to permanently restructure, not just cut their budgets."
Universities are being short-sighted. There will be another recession in the future, and they will again have to deal with budget cuts. And yet again, they will be unable to adequately deal with economic issues without financially burdening students.
Practical changes such as installing energy-efficient lighting, turning down the heat and installing water-saving devices on showers and sinks are simple changes that universities should make to save money. Not only are these methods environmentally beneficial, but they can cut long-term costs of day-to-day activity. The saved money can in turn be used to keep tuition costs down and to protect the faculty from layoffs, should the economy go south again.
However, these are not the only adjustments that need to be made. As of November 2008, the median salary for public university presidents was $427,400, while it was $527,000 for private university presidents. Over one third of university presidents were earning over $500,000 a year.
The idea of paying university presidents half a million dollars a year is deplorable, especially when so many students — and professors — are facing huge debts and possible layoffs due to lack of funds. Like top executives of companies, university presidents feel an undeserved sense of entitlement. This is more about a message of solidarity than about the money itself — no one should be receiving that much cash when so many others within the same institution are struggling economically.
Raising tuition costs and firing professors is a temporary fix that will not ensure long-term financial security.
