Due to the economic conditions now claimed by most states in the United States due to the mortgage meltdown, bank bailouts, continuing conflict in the Middle East, automakers bailouts, health care crisis, and Wall Street's bear market (many of these situations, of course, are due to governmental negligence and precipitated crises) many of the major universities throughout the nation are now announcing increases for tuition rates for most of the public and private college universities.
Interestingly, these increases are now being announced even after there was considerable funding in the form of grants to a great many of these universities for infrastructure needs, and increases in federal grant monies for tuition costs included within that enormous simulus packaged passed by the Obama Administration several months ago.
As an example, the tuition rate increase announced for one of the major universities in my former home state, Arizona, will be the second increase within the past two years, and will place the average in-state resident tuition now at over $6,275 per semester for incoming new freshman for the 2009-2010 academic year at Arizona State University. Included will be new fees in the form of "surcharges" also tacked on to those tuition rates.
Although there is a provision within Arizona's own Constitution that provides the parameters for university tuition which can be charged state residents:
Admission of students of both sexes to state educational institutions; tuition; common school system
Section 6. The university and all other state educational institutions shall be open to students of both sexes, and the instruction furnished shall be as nearly free as possible.
The problem there as in most states is priority of expenditures, and using public funds for private and extra-Constitutional contracts in public/private partnerships and functions most of all.
This amount may sound reasonable when compared to the rate charged at most private universities, or even some of the public East or West coast universities; however, most tuition rates are set by Boards of Regents which are unaccountable to the taxpayers for those tuition rate increases, and simply apply to the state legislature through approvals given by these Board of Regents for their requests. And would dispute with respect to Arizona's clear Constitutional provisions, that $6,250 per semester is "as nearly free as possible."
As someone who grew up in that state, I compared the rates charged when I graduated from high school, to the new rates in comparison factoring in inflation according to the tables provided by an online inflation calculator source.
Since I also am aware of a recent backdoor tax levied and was subject to in the form of an added property tax prior to moving from that state for the expansion of that university and the construction costs for same at the municipal level (thus triple taxation at the municipal, state and federal levels in support of that university), and also aware of the sums in grant monies provided under the stimulus, I did not factor in any added "construction" costs which might also be included in the university's budgets.
Besides, more than 2/3rds the building within the Arizona State University campus are less than 20 years old.
In 1970 the rate for tuition for in state residents was $320.00 for 16 credit hours each semester. As referenced above, the rate for the 2009-2010 academic year will be $12,550.
What cost $320.00 in 1970 would cost $1755.48 in 2008.
Rate charged at ASU 2009-2010: $12,550 - more than eight times the amount of inflation.
And the standard of living (not to mention quality of life) was higher in 1970 even during that recessionary period, than it actually is today.
Also interesting and as a side note, the President of the University was also recently granted a salary increase bringing his salary as a public employee to over $750,000 not including state benefits such as health care, expense accounts, dental insurance and pension plan. That salary of three quarter of a million dollars exceeds the salary of the President of the United States.
His wife is also employed by the university at a salary of over $160,000 per year.
A transplant to that state from Colombia University, Michael Crow also thumbed has also thumbed his nose at the Arizona residents paying his lofty salary by setting aside sums for what he calls "special class international students" receive financial aid from his cache of private benefactors, enabling them to obtain in-state tuition adverse to the restrictions imposed by the citizens by voter approval of a proposition denying in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.
Earlier this year, in the midst of a descending economy, Crow unveiled his ambitious plans for a massive construction project-a $185 million, seven-story science and technology building, scheduled to open in fall 2010. This after he somehow justified expanding ASU into the City of Phoenix with the Chamber of Commerce members and mayor thus triple taxing Phoenix residents in the process for the costs of this massive project. While ASU cannot keep its campuses full as it is, unless it is with illegal immigrants, foreigners and out-state residents while the state residents subsidize those true added costs.
None of the sums received in direct federal grant monies are included in the budgetary requests made at the state level in most states throughout the nation.
And in 1970, free tuition waivers and costs were given to the top 10% of all graduating seniors from Arizona state high schools in recognition of the "public" support of the Arizona citizens to that university.
Now the criteria for any and all tuition fee waivers requires graduating in the top 5%, and exceeding a state mandated AIMS (Arizona Instructional Measurement System) test which a good percentage of the high school faculty themselves had difficulty passing prior to its being given to the high school students. And which cost the Arizona taxpayers over 10 million to prepare, since the Iowa Test of Basic Skills or the SAT's themselves were not sufficient as testing methods for measuring instructional goals for outgoing seniors.
And did I mention that the revenue from the sales of tickets and memorabilia, network contracts, and local radio and television broadcast revenues received by the Arizona State University football program, and private alumni grant monies also go unreported in those budgetary requests?
While the selection committee focuses on primarily out state national merit scholars for name recognition, and illegal immigrant and foreigners for federal grant monies in order to also profit at the Arizona and American citizen's expenses.
If you would like to do a historic comparison for inflationary purposes on your state universities tuition increases throughout the past three decades, you can find the relevant table at:
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/
