COLUMN: Tuition increase inevitable, good for student body
Dear Fellow Aggies,
I welcome the opportunity to address you in one of my final acts while in office. From the onset, please understand that I have considered it a great honor and privilege to serve you. Between classes on the sidewalks of Utah State University, I often look at each of your faces and realize what a daunting task it is to represent you with each of your unique goals and needs. You, the students of USU, deserve to be equitably represented because of who you are and what you stand for.
Recently, I have been asked by a good number of you why ASUSU has decided to support President Hall’s proposal for a 3.5 percent increase above the 5.5 percent mandated by the State Board of Regents. This will be a net increase of $176.48 for a full-time residential student and $613.42 for a non-residential student. For many of you, it will require considerable sacrifice to cover the additional cost. Notwithstanding the additional cost, the benefits of your educational investment are ones that I believe are worthwhile.
Please understand that President Hall has been exceptionally forthright in his request for additional tuition dollars. The purposes for the increase have been clearly delineated with 50 percent going toward libraries this year and for the hiring of additional faculty in subsequent years. Thirty percent will be allocated to improve the academic advising you and I receive at USU. The remaining 20 percent will be set aside for financial aid to assist those whose education will be adversely affected by the increase in tuition.
The fundamental question we are asking is, “What kind of institution do we belong to?” Do you want to graduate from a community college or a university? I do not say that to belittle the educational benefit one gets at a community college, but rather to accentuate the fact that there is a stark contrast between the roles of the two institutions. In education, just as in everything else in life, you get what you pay for. If we fund our university at a mediocre level, in turn we will receive a mediocre education. I do not believe that USU is a mediocre university.
In a perfect world, the good taxpayers of the state of Utah would adequately fund our fine university. Unfortunately, there is considerable disparity between what the state has allocated and what USU requires to remain competitive nationally. Utah State has not, nor should ever expect the students to pay for the bulk of their education. We are engaged in a partnership with the state of Utah where taxpayers and research dollars pay approximately 70 to 75 percent of our education costs.
The remainder comes from tuition paid by us. The state then pools all of the tuition paid at its nine institutions for higher education and reallocates the funds in accordance with an existing formula. The money we pay under the current system is not guaranteed to return to USU. However, President Hall’s proposal for the second-tier increase of 3.5 percent will go directly back into the programs that I outlined earlier. We become empowered to meet the unique demands that are facing us as students.
I won’t pretend that this explanation will make it any easier to pay for the additional cost. I simply hope you feel informed on why your representatives have chosen to support this proposal. This is an investment from which all of us will receive benefits. If you have concerns you would like to address, you will find an open ear on April 13 at noon in the Taggart Student Center Ballroom.