Tuition hike inflicts financial burdens

By Staff Editorial     2/25/10 6:00pm

Rice recently announced that it is perpetuating a disheartening trend in tuition hikes, increasing undergraduate tuition by 5.4 percent for the 2010-11 school year to reach a whopping $33,120 (see story, page 1). This continues the university's decades-old pattern of steadily increasing tuition year after year, often without regard to the national economic picture or external considerations of its students. In the past 10 years alone, the increases have combined to entail more than a doubling of undergraduate tuition. The latest increase is, frankly, insensitive. The administration has spent the past year preaching about the difficult economic situation in justification of multiple budget cuts. Since the fall of 2008, we have endured cuts in academic departments, budget reductions in the residential colleges, staff-wide hiring freezes, the non-renewal of contracts and the elimination of many courses. Times are hard, we're told, so we simply must learn to do without luxuries such as newspapers and college courses taught by professionals.

Coincidentally, the tuition announcement comes at the same time as the decision to no longer offer courses in the Humanities Department that are not tied to a major - for budgetary reasons, of course (see story, page 1).

This decision on its own is frustrating, as Rice, which touts itself as an intellectual hub, continues to stymie intellectualism in the name of budget cuts. Taking courses not tied to any particular major is an important part of the formation of a well-rounded student (and at a university that does not offer a journalism major, it is also the only way for students to take journalism classes). Although budget cuts have become routine, we are especially shocked by the flagrant disregard for academic interests that colors these decisions and further stifles intellectual discovery.

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Despite the university's numerous financial difficulties, the administration assumes that the average family of a Rice student is financially robust enough to stomach the latest 5.4 percent tuition hike atop the fees that are already putting a strain on many. It would be one thing if the announcement of a tuition hike was intended to correct for inflation levels, but this justification doesn't hold up. Over the past year, the United States economy has contracted, not expanded. The unemployment rate is near 10 percent and stocks - and family savings - have yet to recover from the 2008 shake. After a year and a half of severe economic recession - the Associated Press manual officially deemed it the Great Recession on Wednesday - Rice has issued the judgment that surely we must all have money to spare.

Rice has bolstered its reputation in recent years by portraying itself as a good bang for your buck. Rice offers an Ivy League education for a fraction of the Ivy League price, they brag. Yet in light of the university's recent tuition announcement, this claim seems particularly disingenuous. The cost of attending Rice is now only a few thousand dollars below that of the Ivy Leagues, and our Kiplinger's "Best Value" ranking continues to slide. We strongly doubt that prospective students could be enticed to choose Rice over Harvard University because of only a couple thousand dollars in savings. Rice must stop pretending to be something it has no intention of being: If Rice is going to continue to sell itself as a best-value school, it must make efforts to offer this purported value to its students. This entails both increasing our academic offerings and making a strong effort to keep tuition low. Lately, Rice has done the opposite on both counts, pairing cut after cut with demands for more fees.

Concurrent with the tuition announcement, Rice announced plans to increase financial aid by 16 percent. While we commend the university for extending its financial aid offers, we cannot help but wish these increases were unnecessary. Why raise tuition to astronomical levels that few families can reasonably afford, only to have to offer aid to make up the difference? Left in between is a gap of students who can neither afford our exorbitant fees nor qualify for financial aid. Rice is far from a "best value" for these students; it is simply out of reach.

In recent years, tuition hikes at Rice have become de rigueur. Though tuition hikes are the standard at private American universities, it does not follow that we should join in on this trend.

The university must stop making assumptions about our pocketbooks. Rice has a chance to revive its reputation as a best-value school merely by standing back as other schools run up tuition levels. In the future, we implore Rice to not assume tuition hikes are a given, and to consider students' economic interests along with its own. After all, we don't all have a multi-billion dollar endowment to back us up.

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