Tuition amendment shifts burden to students

The president of Boise State is right to push for legislation that would allow Idaho colleges and universities to charge tuition, the costs associated with the actual teaching of the student. Simply put, it is best to allow the state’s higher education facilities to have the most flexibility with their financial resources. The wisest use of tax dollars is that where flexibility in the budget allows for the university or college to take assets from an over funded source on campus and divert it to an under funded one. However, there are numerous concerns that need to be addressed before such a law becomes a reality.

The state has offered no guarantees or assurances that the new tuition charges would not be used for sudden and drastic cost increases associated with attending colleges in Idaho. In fact, they have gone as far as to vote down in committee a proposal by ASBSU to limit the percentage increase that each university would be allowed to raise each year. This blanket dismissal of students’ genuine concerns about the increasing costs of attending college in Idaho shows the real intent behind the bill. Instead of allocating additional revenue to the behemoth in the state budget, the state would rather hide the growing costs of higher education in increases in student fees.

Increased state funding for all levels of education in Idaho is a necessary cost associated with the level of growth this state has received over the last decade. To be fair, all levels of government should offer some assurance that all is being done to promote the wisest and most responsible use of state money. However, the educational system in Idaho has gone long enough without a significant boost from the state to be able to handle increasing enrollment at all levels. Scrutiny should be put on every government program, from the welfare system to the state transportation department to ensure that funds are not being squandered away when the department begins to see excess revenue develop.

The colleges and universities themselves should not be immune from the forces that drive our economy. Before students should accept a tuition cost, they should be ready to receive additional benefits from the increases to their student fees.

Currently Boise State’s many departments have implemented a cap in their enrollment. While various reasons exist, the two main reasons given are that there are not enough instructors to teach beyond the enrollment cap, and that the mandatory internships associated with each degree cannot exceed the current levels.

If the students of Idaho’s colleges and universities are expected to pay more for their education, they should also expect to receive more as a result.

Cutting or reducing programs that are less essential to the real world marketplace forces while increasing enrollment and degree opportunity for higher demand fields is the best way students can get value out of an additional tuition charge.

There is expected to be drastic shortages in the very near future of high quality nurses for hospitals across the country. The American Medical Association has dubbed it an “impending crises” that states must deal with. Yet the nursing program at Boise State continues to be one of the most difficult programs to gain acceptance to.

The education program also operates much the same way, requiring all who seek an education degree to complete an internship that is unpaid with the expectation that the student hold no other employment at the time.

This is not real experience for the real world.

Students should not be strictly opposed to the charge of tuition if such academic charges increase the quality and opportunity of their degree. There have been no assurances that blanket and arbitrary fee increases would be avoided by passing this piece of legislation. In fact, that seems to be the exact intent behind the bill, to shuffle the increasing costs of higher education onto the student body itself and away from state coffers. Students seemingly would receive very little out of this proposal as it is rendered now.

While the best use of state tax money would allow for under-funded departments at Idaho’s colleges and universities to receive monies from over-funded areas, the proposal to allow the state to charge tuition does not seem to be in the best interest of the students for the state of Idaho. The increased costs associated with the new tuition fees would continue to push people out of the higher educational system due to financial constraints. In addition, there seems to be very little benefit for the students who will be footing the new academic charges. There would be no new high demand degree access, no modifications to outdated and archaic degree requirements, and no assurances that the new ability to charge tuition would be done in moderation.

Until the legislature makes a case for a mutually beneficial exchange on the part of the student and college or university, the students of the state of Idaho should reject this ill-conceived attempt to shuffle the rising costs of higher education into their student fees.

luke allen mcmanamon
Columnist

Related Posts:

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2. Students must push state for more funding
3. Pearson explains budget cuts, tuition hike
4. Move keeps tuition down
5. New fee increase hits some out-of-state students