Staff editorial: New tuition model bad idea
August 18, 2004
In a recent interview with a Daily reporter, new President Mark Emmert detailed his desire to find a way to raise tuition and provide more aid based on financial need. The plan sounds strikingly similar to tuition and aid policies in private schools and leaves one wondering if a high tuition/high aid model is really such a good idea.
Currently, the UW relies on the state to support its operational budget; however, what the state does not cover is funded by tuition.
Grounded in response to Washington State's continual decrease in higher education funding, the plan is based on the notion that students from wealthier families should pay more for their education and that poorer students should be subsidized with increased aid.
Since 1997, more than 50 percent of UW students have received some type of financial aid, 83 percent of which comes from the federal government, 12 percent of which comes from the state and 3 percent of which comes from the private sector.
Where will this increased financial aid come from -- or will it exist at all?
In the end, the average student loses and the University gains in a high-tuition, high-aid model. Such a financial-aid model may prove a deterrent to prospective students.
Education at a state school has always been the most affordable higher-education option. Though such a dramatic change will ultimately be left up to the regents and the state Legislature, we can only hope that students will speak up on a topic of such gravity.
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