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State Board ponders tuition today
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At 2 p.m. today, the Idaho State Board of Education will hold a teleconference to amend the Idaho code that states Idaho universities can not charge tuition. The teleconference will take place at 2 p.m. and anyone can listen by calling (612) 332-0819.
The board’s decision last week to endorse legislation giving Idaho’s colleges and universities the go-ahead to charge tuition, seemed to some like a go-ahead to raise student fees and to others like a much-needed adjustment.
The legislation will allow student fees, except those of University of Idaho students, to be used to pay faculty salaries. Currently, Idaho statute 33-3717 states that only matriculation fees, fees that help cover all costs other than the cost of instruction, can be charged to students.
For 2005, Boise State will spend approximately $80 million on instruction, almost all of which comes from state appropriations. Some worry that if the state can’t fund the cost of instruction, the burden will fall on students.
It makes further cuts in appropriation to higher education all the easier if students can now share in the burden of instructional costs, said ASBSU Vice President Tom Labrecque, and if the state does have to cut funding, students are likely to see the cost of their education go up.
Boise State President Robert Kustra told the state board otherwise, saying that the change wouldn’t mean more cost to students. “Theoretically, with more flexibility we shouldn’t be going into the state board with the rather large increases that we’ve been asking for lately,” Kustra said, referring to requests for increases in student fees, in a Jan. 27 Idaho Statesman article.
Still others argue that the point is not so much whether student fees increase or not but whether students will benefit.
Vice President for Academic Affairs Sona Andrews thinks it is likely that fees will increase, but says that with that, the value of a Boise State diploma will increase as well. Ultimately, Andrews sees the change as positive, even if costs rise for students, but cautions that universities “must figure out a way for those who can’t pay [to attend school].”
In a guest opinion to the Idaho Statesman, ASBSU President David Morriss said there could be some benefits that come with the change, such as the flexibility to hire more professors, but that the legislation should come with a commitment by the legislature to continue funding higher education.
While the actual effects of the proposed legislation remain to be seen, it seems that everyone involved agrees that state appropriations for higher education have been inadequate in recent years. Kustra has called state funding “way behind” and Morriss said in his opinion that if funding did not improve he wouldn’t send his children to Idaho’s public universities or colleges.
According to the Idaho Legislative Budget Office, “over the past 10 years, General Fund money going to higher ed has increased by 36 percent while student fees have increased by 165 percent.”��
Gregory Rutty
News Editor
