With Spring comes nice weather...and announcements of tuition increases.
Many colleges have announced their tuition charges for next year and it has some students seeing a near 10% increase in costs.
As more schools cross the $50,000/year mark, it's easy to see how the cost of higher education is getting out of hand. With tuition increases that continue to outpace inflation, it's only going to get worse. (It will be interesting to see next year's ranking of most expensive colleges. See 2009-2010)
Stories of college tuition increases can be found in newspapers and local news broadcasts all across the country. Perhaps the most noticeable being the University of California System, who raised tuition 32% and experienced student outrage at many of its campuses.
Many schools are raising tuition because of lost funding from the state and to give faculty long overdue raises. Governors, College Presidents, Regents, and other University Officials have given multiple reasons as to why costs are going up. Here is a roundup of what officials had to say when questioned about tuition increases.
50 Reasons for Increasing Tuition
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"Students need to pay their fair share."
-Quebec Universities -
"I'm asking our families and our students to sacrifice a little bit."
-Washington State Universities -
"If they can afford it why not have them pay a larger fare?"
-Colorado Universities -
"I don't think it's the right thing to do necessarily but it what's going on in our market right now."
-Midland College -
"If tuition has to raise by 77 percent, so be it. If we have to break the promise of locking in tuition, we have to break the promise."
-Georgia Universities -
The economy is the driving factor in this. The cuts in this budget reflect that."
-Boise State University -
"We live in a world with a weird and unfortunate state funding formula and that forces universities to raise tuition."
-New Mexico State University -
Even though tuition has increased rapidly over the last decade its not filling the gap of lost state support."
-University of Illinois -
"The West is moving more toward the national averages."
-Colorado Universities -
"I don't feel comfortable going to the Legislature and saying, 'We're counting on you to solve our problem. I think we need to step up, and we have the opportunity to do so, and that's why I am proposing this increase."
-Nevada Universities -
"Even a 15 percent increase is still a bargain."
-University of South Florida -
"I hope this will serve as a wake-up call to people in this state."
-University of Colorado -
"When you have no choice, you have no choice. We do not have the money to continue to run the University of California."
-University of California -
"We are at a loss to make this a win for everybody because of Colorado's complete lack of commitment to higher education."
-University of Colorado -
"It's not all that much money. When you look at the dollars, it's $956."
-University of Virginia -
"They came here with an expectation for what they would pay."
-University of Houston -
"In the 1980s higher education made up 17 percent of the state budget, and prisons accounted for 3 percent. Today those figures are 9 percent and 10 percent, respectively."
-University of California -
"We are not asking for your approval, we are asking for your support."
-OCCC -
"The worst is not over."
-University of California -
"Cornell University hemorrhaged more than a quarter of its endowment in the past six months - roughly $1.45 billion - and will slash budgets and hike tuition to shore up".
-Cornell University -
"Our percentage increase appears its going to be the highest, but our dollar amount is going to be the third lowest."
-Eastern New Mexico University -
Were becoming a socialist society when we say that you shouldnt raise tuition at all.
-Georgia Universities -
"The increase is absolutely necessary to balance our budget. Without it, wed have to lay 110 people off.
-Idaho State University -
"I absolutely had to vote for this, it would have been hypocritical of me not to."
-University of California -
"The prison system used to get about one-third as much money as the university system. Now [they] are pretty close to being the same because we incarcerate too many people."
-Wisconsin Universities -
This is just the beginning. These tuition increases are nowhere near what they may be next year.
-University of Virginia -
"This is our one best shot at preventing this recession from pulling down a great system toward mediocrity."
-University of California -
"We're not going to slow down on planning. We're going to keep going and pay ourselves back."
-James Madison University -
"85 percent of the revenues generated by the tuition-fee increase would be allocated to the faculty."
-University of Manitoba -
"We hope to increase salary for our faculty and staff next year."
-Stanford University -
"The college hopes to set aside money now to cushion the school in the future."
-Oklahoma City Community College -
"It's the system that is broken."
-University of California -
"To begin to rebuild the university, we will have to raise tuition in two phases by a total of 32 percent over the next two yearsfrom $7,788 to $10,302. Students are angry about that, and they have every right to be."
-University of California -
"The state is no longer a reliable partner."
-University of California -
"The availability of courses is rapidly diminishing. If you can't get into the classes you need, it will take you much longer to get your degreeswhich means it will be more expensive to graduate. So raising tuition may, in fact, ultimately save students money."
-University of California -
"Tuition is being adjusted for inflation."
-Southwestern Oregon Community College -
"Virginia does not fund higher education as much as other states do. As a result, the undergraduate in-state tuition rates at the University are about $1,200 higher than average."
-University of Virginia -
"If we don't implement the increases, we won't get the revenue increases that we really need."
-University of Windsor -
"There's no money, so we're trying to ask students to come up to the plate."
-Montgomery College -
"The fee increase is intended to help pay for $16 million in deferred maintenance projects."
-Eastern Illinois University -
"Tuition hikes at UA still fall short of most increases among universities in the 15-state Western region. In the past five years, UA tuition has climbed 29.8%, compared to a regional increase of 48.2%"
-University of Alaska -
"Some of UAFS' proposed increase is driven by student requests for greater health coverage."
-University of Arkansas at Fort Smith -
"Santa Clara does not have the luxury of having a multibillion dollar endowment. Unless someone came along and made a mega gift to the institution, we are tuition dependent."
Santa Clara University -
"We continue to face external economic pressures that affect sources of income such as the endowment payout and philanthropic giving."
-University of Chicago -
"We don't feel that we're through this yet, but we feel that maybe we're past the absolute worst. But it's still a very dangerous time that we're in."
-NYU -
The trustees are focused on modest tuition growth for years to come."
-Franklin & Marshall College -
"We are now where the state of Georgia does not have enough money to complete this fiscal year."
-Georgia Universities -
"The Athens campus will sustain a $10.4 million reduction in state funding in 2011 and must reallocate an additional $3.25 million to fund increasing health-care and utilities costs"
-Ohio University -
"My goal is to make sure that those doors remain open and we don't sacrifice the quality of education. We cannot make cuts that will damage educational opportunity."
-Washington State Universities -
"This increase is necessary to move forward with investments and continue with academic enterprise."
-Ohio University