Walking through campus with palm trees towering overhead, perfectly trimmed bushes and blue, sunny skies watching over me, I have often realized that the education USD offers is not the only thing student tuition pays for. The allure of the campus and the beauty of San Diego's beaches are large incentives that bring prospective students to USD, and make the high tuition worthwhile. But in this time of economic uncertainty and the growing instability of families and households nationwide one must ask, how much is too much?
USD tuition has consistently increased throughout my four years as a student. Although I am a graduating senior, I could not help but notice that the cost of tuition for the 2009- 2010 school year has reached an all-time high of $17,935 per semester. This staggering figure is nearly $800 more than the previous year and over $3500 more than when I first started attending USD four years ago. This sharp increase and overwhelming figure has gone without any explanation by the University and leaves me with two questions: Where is all of this money going and will students be able to afford it in this time of calamity?
The cost of attending USD has never been cheap, but the high price of enrollment has always been indicative of a well-rounded liberal arts education, small class sizes and personal student-teacher relationships. It seems as though these fundamental USD institutions have remained the same throughout the years of markups, yet the tuition continues to grow. So how is the excess money being spent? Professors are definitely not seeing salary boosts at this time, and administrative positions have been cut due to the economic downfall. Money must be pouring into other university services and personal expenditures. One aspect that eats up precious tuition dollars is continuous construction and expansion on campus. The development leads to more money spent on upkeep and services for the newly renovated campus. Without enough cash flow to cover the existing needs, USD should not continue this cycle of spending.
The annual tuition raise signals that the university is spending outside of their means, and the students are the only ones left to bail them out. But raising the tuitions and fees to this all-time high could not have come at a worse time for USD students and families. The nation's recession has resulted in millions of job losses and heavy economic blows. The last thing families need is more college costs.
Although USD offers a great education, beautiful campus and sunny skies, these factors will soon be overshadowed by the inflated tuition, eventually driving perspective students to comparable but less expensive universities. Now, at nearly $36,000 a year, the student body deserves an explanation and a guarantee that in the coming semesters the inflation will stop.
