Since 1995, SUNY tuition has remained steady at $3,400 per year. But while Albany irresponsibly refuses to increase tuition, college and university administrators across the system annually compensate for the difference between tuition revenues and non-academic expenditures by slowly hiking our comprehensive fee - the extra charge we pay for the athletics program, parking and transportation, computer technology and other services.
Next fall, the UB administration plans to increase the fee by $30, raising the charge per semester to $655, or $1,310 per year. Between 1995 and 2002, the total cost of fees has changed from $660 to $1389.50. That's an increase of almost $730.
Many undergraduates will have to pay the fees out of pocket because financial aid programs like FAFSA and TAP do not take student fees into account when calculating financial need. Students can actually pay less when tuition is raised by keeping university expenses registered as items covered by financial aid programs.
The comprehensive fee is the hidden cost of what we pay for Governor Pataki and the SUNY trustees to be able to brag about how they have put money in the taxpayers' pockets. It's a high price to pay, considering how little public higher education actually costs each taxpayer compared to the enormous benefit of an educated citizenry, especially one that may not have otherwise been able to pursue higher education.
Out of pocket, we will pay the most for increasing support for the athletics program. Included in the proposal breakdown is greater funding to athletic recruitment and travel, which without euphemisms reduces to Red Lobster dinners for recruits and extensive travel, such as the men's basketball team's trip to Hawaii for the Yahoo Invitational last December. Although these programs are certainly meritorious, the overall cost/benefit ratio they present does not offer an advantage to the students as a whole.
Overall, the administration defends these increases are primarily for Title IX funding. The administration should not use Title IX as an excuse to constantly expand athletic programs, instead solving the Title IX problem by getting rid of several less popular sports programs altogether instead of quietly charging the students to support them.
Even the $5 raise in the technology fee demands scrutiny. The hike is partially to pay for an increase in the Microsoft software license. The money would be better allocated to pay for the expensive programs computer science majors and computer artists regularly have to buy for class.
These examples illustrate that the university is using other people's money without adequate consideration to the actual return on these investments. Worse still, the administration is conducting this business in a way that blindsides the student population. They initially gave the Student Association only one day to inform the students of a general meeting on the fee, and delayed it only after SA President Chris Oliver and Vice President Josh Korman complained, acting properly on behalf of the students.
Albany is still stonewalling any suggestion of a tuition raise, so the university must devise alternate funding solutions to student pockets. Funding should be allocated only to programs that directly provide a necessary service to the student population as a whole. They must also take more steps to actively inform students of important changes in their tuition bill. If they deem it necessary to send out a mass e-mail to everyone about five chicken pox cases, there should be no doubt they must tell students that their fees will be increased - or else they risk forgetting whose money it really is.
