Skyrocketing price, diminishing value
Legend’s View
As layoffs increase around the country, it is becoming more and more important to have at least a college degree to compete with the rest of the workforce.Unfortunately, as that importance increases, so too does the cost of a post-secondary education.
In today’s uncertain economic climate, it is becoming harder and harder for public universities to offer high-quality, low-cost education.
In fact, there seems to be an inverse correlation.
Tuition costs keep increasing while the quality keeps decreasing.
There are budget cuts statewide and both ASU and MCC are being affected.
ASU has already seen its state funding cut by $37 million with additional proposed cuts of $70 million and $155 million for 2009 and 2010 respectively.
We realize that both Arizona and the country as a whole are in a deep recession, if not a full-blown depression, and that the state is trying to deal with a $1 billion plus deficit but there has to be a solution other than crippling public universities.
If all of the proposed cuts to education are passed, how are the schools to function?
Tuition would skyrocket.
There is already a decrease in the availiblity of scholarship and grant money and its becoming harder and harder to get student loans.
Hard working students from lower income families are going to find it practically impossible to finance their way through college.
Is a college education to return to being only within the reach of the wealthy?
Professors cannot afford to take the brunt of these cuts either.
The schools can’t ask someone to teach more courses for the same amount of money.
Nor is it fair to students or teachers to constantly increase the number of people in the classroom.
What is anyone going to take away from a class of 600?
Not every class can be power points and scantrons.
Some departments may have to be trimmed down or closed completely but must we pare down some of the administrative departments and cut back on the over priced bureaucracy too.
Though we may not be able to have so many “boutique” courses or departments in large public universities, students should still be able to get a decent, affordable core education.
We could probably find some places to save money if there was a little more transparency in the upper echelons of the universities.
Because the reality is that while Arizona might be in economic trouble, but we can ill afford to live a place where a higher education is out of reach for the masses.
Having an educated population can only help Arizona during the tough times to come.
Arizona needs a population of highly educated people to help attract businesses and improve the economic infrasturcture of the state.
So while tuition increases maybe a necessary evil, there needs to be some intiative to keep them in check.
Students need to learn how to plan for future increases but it is the duty of our state legislators to make sure that equal access to a decent, affordable education doesn’t become a thing of the past.
