Posted on: Thursday, July 24, 2003
States' financial woes drive up costs of higher education
Advertiser Staff and News Services
State colleges and universities in every region of the country are preparing to impose this fall their steepest tuition and fee increases in a decade — the latest fallout from state fiscal crises in which most governors and legislatures this year sharply reduced aid to higher education.
Tuition and fees are rising 39 percent at the University of Arizona and 40 percent at the University of California.
In Minnesota, the state colleges and universities system recently approved 12.5 percent increases for this September and September 2004, which will mean four consecutive years of double-digit tuition increases for in-state students.
The pattern marks a reversal from the boom times of the late 1990s, when state tax collections soared and most governors dramatically raised aid to public colleges and universities, which educate two-thirds of the nation's four-year college students. Some states froze or even rolled back in-state tuition; others kept increases to a minimum.
Governors and lawmakers in several states said they cut state aid to higher education reluctantly, but did so knowing that colleges and universities could raise money from other sources, including tuition.
A survey by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges found tuition rising at public institutions in all 37 states that have responded, almost all as a result of state budget cuts. Increases were less than 5 percent in only three states — Montana, New Mexico and Hawai'i.
The University of Hawai'i-Manoa campus is in the midst of a five-year phased-in tuition increase through 2005-06 of about 3 percent per fiscal year. However, a recent report by the administration to the Board of Regents offered a range of new options regarding more increases that are being considered because of state budget cuts this year.
The UH administration has said it hopes rising enrollment will offset needs for big new tuition increases. But additional cuts by the state could change the picture. A final report is being prepared for the regents.
University officials across the country voiced concern that many lower- and moderate-income students will be pushed into community colleges or out of higher education because federal financial aid and most state aid programs are not keeping pace with rising tuition. Meanwhile, the job market for young adults is dismal, and more students need to work to afford college, surveys show.
"It is curious that national and state political leaders are so interested in ensuring access to and quality in K-12 education, yet once you get to higher education, the interest in accessibility seems to fall off," said Charles Hoslet, director of state relations for the University of Wisconsin system, where tuition on flagship campuses is going up 18 percent.
Some states, including New York, Oklahoma and Washington, are increasing financial aid to cover some or all tuition increases for lower- and moderate-income families, but many made no changes. And several, including Tennessee and Massachusetts, reduced need-based aid, saying the fiscal crisis left them no alternative. The largest federal grant program, the Pell Grant, is not increasing its maximum award.
With the increases, tuition and room and board at many state universities is now more than $10,000 a year. The National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges found that room and board at major state universities last year averaged a little less than $6,000.
Tuition at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa costs about $3,350 per year.
