by Rory Regan
On March 2, University of Denver Provest Greg Kivstad distributed an email to current students, informing them that the University planned to raise tuition by 3.5 percent for the 2012-13 academic year.
Kvistad cited the "challenging times for colleges and universities" as justification for the tuition hike. He continued by noting that planned increases in student aid would mitigate against the cost increase and concluded by thanking students for their "continued trust" in the university's "mission" [read entire editorial].
15 comments:
"Students should not have to pay more for the same experience?" Really? Why don't you try that line of "reasoning" the next time you go to a movie or fill up your car?
This guy's about a few decades too late. He'd have fit right in with the SDS. Every increase in price is "unjustified," and those wanting to hike their prices should have to submit to some "metric" to decide which price hikes are "permitted" and which are not. I'm sure he would reluctantly volunteer to enforce these requirements.
Amen
Grow up.
The more DU charges, the more applicants we get. For many, price=quality.
It's not the same experience. Costs go up. Each year, DU adds programs, new talent, new facilities, etc. We're competing with schools like BU, SMU, and USC.
It's an arms race.
3.5 percent doesn't seem that high to me. I figured it would be more.
One of my verification words is "siousi" which is hilarious.
Old Pio...c'mon. Increases in college tuition are a valid topic of national debate, and a serious concern. I doubt you left college with 80,000 in debt, and that is what a lot of kids have to do these days to get their education. It's a big issue, and I don't see why you are attempting to insult the author with the SDS comment. Maybe you should consider that his points are a big concern for people of his generation, and that the costs of college will be even more staggering for the next generation. Although the price of tuition at DU seemed high when I attended, and it took me 12 years to pay off my loans, I still feel lucky to have attended college when things weren't this bad.
Students tell me that DU gets many out of state applications because of Colorado's marijuana laws.
This may or may not be true, but if the laws significantly change and applications fall through the floor, lowering DU's tuition is going to be very difficult.
Tuition has been raised every year under Coombe & I assume the same was true under Ritchie. DU is a far better school than in the old days, but raising your prices every year is a poor business model.
Ask the US auto industry.
DG, if students aren't savvy enough to be able to buy pot without a dispensary...lord have mercy on their souls. Sounds like BS to me. Though I could see this being true for CU students...
As I see it, there are two issues here: the whiney, OWS-inspired sense of entitlement and the tuition racket that many (most?) universites have become. We see the former every night on the news. And several best sellers have been written about the latter.
These two issues can co-exist quite nicely. And I addressed only the sense of entitlement in my initial post. Such a big target.
Although the young man's op-ed reminded me of the time a couple of dozen students sat down in and took over, Old Main. Mo Mitchell palavered with them for a while but they were adamant. He announced they "would sit down students and stand up alumni." DPD showed up, hauled 'em out of there by their lips and they were expelled.
Subsequently, the whining began: "these are good students, with good grades, and we should re-admit them." Mo reasoned that they should have thought of that before they defied authority and gummed up the works in Old Main.
They were not readmitted.
It does seem like universities really don't care about the cost of tuition, realizing that the new "customers" will always be there. And DG's right, DU is a much better institution than it was in my day, and that costs money. How do we imbue a sense of financial responsibility in those who run our university? Assuming they need it, I don't know. I do know some half-ass "metric" applied by students isn't the answer. It's old "equality of outcomes" badger game. I know, maybe a federal law.
If you are chasing the affluent student market as DU is, there is little incentive to reduce prices You just keep charging in the middle of your peers, and keep pace with them, as DU does. If DU reduces the price, they will likely get less applicants from the full-pay group, as that group expects to pay more. Du needs the 30 % rich full pays to subsidize the 70 % who don't pay full price.
Competing with USC and Stanford? Not until DU offers what they do... scholarships to anyone who is accepted and can't afford it. No loans - grants. Tuition and room and board. There was a time when DU was getting close to that. When Dan Ritchie was Chancellor, DU was recruiting in California by telling applicants that with grants and scholarships, the cost of attendance would be about the same, or less, than attending San Diego State U. Sadly, Coombes crowd has allowed that philosophy to erode.
I forgot to sign my name. The USC, Stanford post was from...
Tim in Los Angeles
There will be a breaking point. Maybe not next year or the year after that or the year after that. But at some point DU will be pricing itself out the market. Right now DU isn't even sniffing the top 50, yet it continues to push tuition higher and higher. Good luck with that plan. Sooner or later students will take their business elsewhere.
Here's the reality - for the 30% of people who can afford DU's full pop tuition, room and board, most of those families can easily afford it. $50K per year is no big stretch for families with $2-3-5 million or more in the bank. And with DU in the top 100 universities, there are plenty of families in DU's target market who can afford it. That's why DU applications are increasing every year while the incoming freshman pool has been decreasing since 2008.
With an not-huge endowment of $350 million, DU needs all those full pays so subsidize the other 70% who don't pay full pop. So all those kids who bitch about DU having too many rich kids should thank God those rich kids are there - they are the ones who make your lower tuition bill possible...
Meant to say the National freshman pool is decreasing since 2008.
I am the author of the original article. To anyone reading, I feel the need to address some of the criticisms raised last year, after its release:
1) Paying for an education is different than paying for a movie or buying a car. Those selling the latter two items are doing so for one reason: to make money. DU is a non-profit institution. It is driven, at least in name, by a larger mission or purpose. Raising tuition by exorbitant amounts – year after year, without end – directly imperils that mission, and mocks the values the university purports.
2) You are mistaken to brand me as a shrill OWS-inspired voice. My article never calls for DU to pay my debt or for my creditors to cancel my loans. Unlike some, I intend to pay back what I owe.
3)Tying tuition increases to improvements in the quality of education is not half-baked thinking: it’s logical, reasonable and even moral. And yes, measuring those improvements is the way to do this. It gives DU a reason to improve, to innovate, to serve its students better. It flies in the face of the current “arms race” line of thinking another poster alluded to. Otherwise, students are faced with more arbitrary increases, unsupported by public justification and sadly, with no end in sight. That’s not something to settle for and meekly accept. Our university can do a lot better. It can and should lead the way.
4)Oh: and if you do read this and chose to respond to one item, please respond to this: explain to me how a desire to receive a quality education at an affordable cost displays “an air of entitlement”?
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