Tuition increases are awful to hear about. Every time the student body gets an email from Tony Frank having anything to do with money, a collective groan resonates throughout the student body. We pay a lot of money to be here and get an education, it’s difficult to even consider paying even more.

However, CSU-Pueblo has done exactly what we think that should happen here in Fort Collins: they made the decision to leave tuition alone. Unfortunately, that hasn’t worked out well. CSU-Pueblo finds themselves in financial hot water now, having to lay off teachers and make pretty severe cutbacks that are not boding well for the institution as a whole.

So even though we hate the very thought of tuition increases, we can see from this example that there are very necessary reasons for them. Higher education is a business, and money is a necessary evil of that. With federal funding virtually nonexistent, that means that expenses have to be covered out of students’ pockets. It may not be what we want, but it’s what needs to happen.

At the end of the day, if a slight increase in tuition leads to educators being able to keep their jobs and the University’s doors remaining open, it’s worth it. Next time you feel like collectively groaning about seeing an increase in tuition, remember that there is a very distinct reason the University has to ask.