By By Shaun Kilroy and Candice Mc Fadyen
The cost of gas, healthcare and inflation are not the only things rising in recent years, the price of a college degree has also gotten pricier.
Colleges across the nation have been experiencing an increase in tuition that is rising faster than the rate of inflation of the U.S. dollar.
Since 2000, the value of the American dollar has shrunk 11.38 percent, according to the U.S. Labor Department Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Web site, decreasing by roughly 2 to 3 percent each year.
The University’s tuition per semester, however, has increased by 46 percent, according to records from the admissions office.
The University’s tuition rose at a higher percentage each year, from 4.5 percent during the 2001-02 academic year, 7.99 percent in 2002-03, 6.66 percent in 2003-04, 8.83 percent in 2004-05 and an 11.4 percent leap in this year’s tuition. The only year the percentage of increase lowered was 2003.
This change does not parallel the rate of inflation and cannot even be viewed as a product of new technology and rising University fees due to the lack of incorporation of these factors in this statistic, said a University admissions official.
What does add to the rising tution at the University is the rise in healthcare costs which directly affect University employee salaries.
“Healthcare costs have gone up between 12 to 14 percent in the past decade,” Melissa Connolly, vice president for University Relations, said.
Connolly said two-thirds of the annual budget goes to paying employee salaries and benefits, which continue to rise.
Salaries of such administrators as University President Stuart Rabinowitz, who according to the Chronicle of Higher Education is the highest paid college president on Long Island for the 2003-04 fiscal year, are paid for out of student tuitions.
According to the report, Rabinowitz earned $416,554, with an additional $91,234 in benefits.
Connolly added that 75 percent of the tuition pays for University costs which, aside from employee salaries, include institutional, maintainence, administrative, legal and technological costs.
The remaining 25 percent is covered by subsidies and grants that are awarded to the University.
Connolly said the costs for updating technology is also a major expense, as the almost 2,000 desktops the University stocks have a two to three-year lifespan because technologies advance so quickly.
William LoPresti, professor of sociology, attributes the increases to institutional costs outside of instruction such as technology, marketing, building, long term salary and benefit costs.
He also referred to special market conditions as a culprit, which permit a type of monopoly pricing for limited resources – higher education credentials, for example.
“There is a cost benefit calculus to this,” he said. “Eventually the costs of education will outweigh the benefits for a large number of students unless there is some form of governmental loan programs [added not subtracted].”
Salaries and marketing aside, Michael Giragosian, a sophomore business major, sees inflation as the reason for rising costs.
“Logically it makes sense because the value of the dollar goes down since you have more people than you have money, therefore money is worth less,” he said. “I can’t argue against higher tuition from the school, given inflation. Everything else is going up, tuition goes up too, in order to compensate.”
Sunil Samuel, senior associate dean of admissions, said the University’s costs are in line with other institutions in the area.
“Our new tuition structure puts us within a competitive market throughout the Long Island and New York area’s institutions of higher education,” he said.
Connolly agreed, stating that the University is “very competitive in terms of tuition.”
She added that the University has a lower tuition than other schools in the area while providing a more personal educational experience by maintaining small class sizes and hiring more faculty.
According to CollegeBoard.com, the tuitions of similar, private, four-year institutions are in the same relative price range as that of the University.
For the 2005-06 year, the University’s tuition was $23,130, Adelphi’s was $19,720, Seton Hall’s was $23,760 and St. John’s was $23,370.
Some students, however, are not comforted by the fact that the University is not one of the most expensive private institutions to attend.
“It makes me frustrated because living in today’s society is getting harder and harder,” Jamie Colombo, a junior English major, said. “Today’s college students are being faced with high cost tuitions, leaving us with basically a mortgage payment and debt to overcome after college.”
At the current rate, the University’s class of 2009 will be forced to pay $16,965 per semester, leaving them with an approximate total year cost of $34,000 per year – not including housing, according to the Student Accounts Office.
“It’s believable, but ridiculous,” Alana Vest, a sophomore print journalism major, said. “I’m definately not pleased with the education I’m receiving for the amount I’m spending.”
Rise in Tuition Vs. Rise in Inflation (Harry Tanielyan/The Chronicle)
Distribution of Students per College Costs (Harry Tanielyan/The Chronicle)