Tuition hikes, a reality and necessity

No one argues that college isn't expensive. Indeed, in most cases, the cost of tuition puts severe financial pressure on both students and their guardians. What many individuals neglect to understand, however, is the cost of attending college rises every year.

Unfortunately, the same is true of Washington State's budget deficit and thus, with each passing year, less money is available to fund higher education. While our state's funding of higher education is significantly below many comparable states, each year voters strike down measures that would raise taxes in order to fund our schools. As Washington residents, unless money miraculously begins to grow like scotch broom on the sides of Interstate-5, we're going to have to pay in one way or another.

Last year, undergraduate tuition increased 7 percent and this year promises an equal, if not greater, hike. Indeed, it is likely due to Washington State's $26 billion budget shortfall that tuition will rise as much as 9 percent, or an extra $475 per full-time student per year.

Though sobering, these sorts of tuition hikes are reality and a necessity.

At the UW, we are privileged to possess many of the foremost scholars academia has to offer. Each year, however, the University loses some of its best and most qualified faculty to other institutions who are simply willing to pay them more. Known as "brain drain," losing faculty because we cannot pay them competitively lowers both the quality of the institution and the University's unique culture. To curtail such a deleterious pattern, the UW must make a commitment to pay its faculty competitively and, in the end, a great deal of this financial support must come from tuition. Concurrently, to uphold the competitive nature of the UW's facilities, significant upgrades must be made.

Do you know which building surrounding the quad you should be in, in the event of an earthquake? The correct answer is: none of them. Think your teaching assistants are mean? Imagine being cramped for hours a day in tiny coffin-like offices, which you share with four other equally over-worked individuals. Ever wish the UW's "Film School" didn't mean the Comparative Literature major? You're not alone, but without sufficient funding it simply isn't feasible.

There's no doubt the University has needs, but students need to realize they attend one of the premiere public institutions on the West Coast for significantly less than the California system and respect the cost of quality education.

To maintain the UW as one the nation's best public research institutions, UW President Mark Emmert has proposed a tuition model already in place in several states across the nation. The model, which proposes a "high tuition, high aid" methodology, encourages a drastic tuition raise of up to 15 to 20 percent. This drastic hike is supplemented, however, by significantly increased financial aid, which proponents say will close the gap for students in need. Opponents argue that the overhaul would harm the demographic that could least afford it: the ever-expanding middle class.

Regardless, the tuition hike, in concurrence with Emmert's proposed "performance contract," -- which would compel lawmakers to consider University budget issues, enrollment numbers and the realization of goals such as diversity and graduation rates when allotting the UW funds -- would ensure the University's needs are met and distinction preserved in the future.

By delaying a raise in tuition we not only gamble with the University's future, but our own as well.