This coming school year we are all in for a surprise with a 9 percent tuition increase which brings the cost of tuition up to $7,494 for the fall and spring semesters of the 2014 school year. Rate increases are a problem seen with all colleges. In the last 13 years, tuition at CU has risen an astonishing 130 percent.
In the past, CSU officials have claimed that the tuition increase is to help offset the decrease in state funding. However, this year Colorado actually increased state funding for public universities.
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It makes no sense why the cost of college is so rapidly outpacing the average wages of middle class families. I guarantee wages have not increased 130 percent over the last 13 years.
With all this construction going on at the CSU campus, it makes me ask the question of why CSU needs to raise tuition when they are obviously spending vast amounts of money. It’s time for the school to start taking those donations used on construction projects and shifting them to help subsidize tuition.
As students we are here to get our education first, not to go see a football game on campus or have our own microbrewery at the new student center. There have been a number of poor choices made by CSU when it comes to spending. Not to mention the new engineering building that ran out of money before it was finished.
When I look at all this construction it makes my blood pressure rise thinking about the millions of dollars being spent on construction projects that aren’t needed. With just 100 million dollars that would help to lower the cost of tuition by more than $3,500 per year.
There has been concern that CSU is eventually going to move to a private university, but most private schools average a cost of about $50,000-60,000 which has started to encounter backlash. Public schools such as CU and CSU will run into issues if they continue to raise tuition on a yearly basis.
CSU, it’s time to start thinking about your students’ wallets instead of your image and an on-campus stadium. We are all here to get our degree and make a hopefully successful career after college. However, at this rate it won’t be long before we will no longer be able to afford college at all.
Editor in Chief Darin Hinman can be reached news@collegian.com.
