With the closure of Fall Semester and the end of the year, now is the time for reflection.
Looking back, the Associated Students of the University of Utah have had a fairly successful semester. ASUU finally got the child-care center up and running, fixed some nasty election finance loopholes and at least attempted to get students involved.
But in one area, ASUU has remained silent. ASUU President Ben Lowe needs to speak up about tuition.
The state Board of Regents recently approved a 3 percent tuition increase. This preliminary number is sure to grow, as it does every year. But with a declining economy, some administrators are looking at tuition with desperate eyes, suggesting an increase upwards of 15 percent.
For the basic undergraduate, that 3 percent raise equates to an additional $75. A 15 percent hike would force students to fork over an additional $375 on top of the approximately $3,000 they already pay in a year.
Did you know about this? If you didn’t, blame Lowe. Sure, he has probably talked to administrators behind closed doors, but he needs to fight publicly to keep this increase to the bare minimum. He needs to show students he is working for their best interests.
The sluggish economy will undoubtedly mean less state money for the U. With less state money comes smaller department budgets. When the U feels the financial pinch, it starts grabbing for student pocketbooks.
This is understandable, but it doesn’t make it fair, or right.
Students should pay their fair share, and they already do. A dipping economy shouldn’t necessarily change the size of that share.
Lowe, as the representative of the students, needs to publicly fight for a small increase. Only when ASUU made a public stand last year did anything happen.
When they spoke up, they created a new state law. Colleges must now inform students about any tuition increase and where it will go before the vote. But if Lowe waits until then before saying anything, higher education administrators will have already made up their minds.
Our future tuition increase, in part, rests in ASUU’s hands.